Dragons Among Us
by GaleSynch
Summary: AU: I wished someone had told me beforehand that life in Fairy Tail world wasn't easy. The thrill of being a mage couldn't quite compensate for the problems I'm going through. [Self-Insert, Male OC]
1. Chapter 1

**Hiro Mashima © Fairy Tail**

* * *

**Dragons Among Us**

**Prologue**

by GaleSynch

* * *

"Your father was—_is_ like a black hole, I had to leave him, Wahrheit, you have to understand. I... I never meant for this to happen."

It was easy to believe her. The shattered look on her face whenever she saw me, tired and covered from head to toe in dust and new bruises, convinced me that she wasn't lying. The man she left was horrible.

However, I couldn't help but wonder how bad was he?

Could he be worse than this?

(Could death be worse than this? Somehow, I doubt it, both of those circumstances I mean.)

My shoulders ached from one whole day of work. I had just started recently and it taxed me, the rest of the prisoners in my cell were older and stronger than me. They had been here longer and they were used to it. I wasn't.

What was more insulting and aggravating and shocking? The boy who ruled this place, this prison.

His name?

Jellal Fernandes.

The first time I learned that, I was so shocked I had to fall senseless to the ground. I didn't faint, I just had to sit down and process that information. I thought my 'mother' was deranged and delusional then, and the other prisoners were crazy for playing along too, but they all repeated the same name when I asked who kept us prisoners.

Jellal, a fictional character from an anime I'd nearly forgotten. I thought this was a sick joke—a nightmare was more like it.

The rest of the prisoners often told me how lucky I was, that I started working only after the revolt had succeeded. They say this was paid work, they lead tough and weary lives but they were happy and they no longer suffered. From what my birth mother had told me, she said that a few years back when I was still too young to work, the person in charge was demonic, working them all to the brink of death.

But then Jellal, their so-called savior, had come and gave them a new way to live: to build a tower that would be humanity's salvation.

They were all brainwashed by him and worked tirelessly to help him fulfill his goal. Quoting an old man, "We are forever grateful to him and this is our way to repay him for all that he has done for us."

I had never met the boy himself until I was forced to work last week.

There was no mistaking that bright blue hair, hazel eyes and that odd mark over his right eye. Being the youngest among the workers, he singled me out. Ruffled my hair, smiling a smile that didn't reach his eyes, and told me to hang in there and that I'd get used to it and that it would all be worth it in the end, my work would be rewarded generously.

_So_, I was reincarnated into the world of Fairy Tail.

_As a boy_.

The memories were vague and jumbled but as I grew older, it came back. I was five and the memories that came rushing at me showed me another world, through the eyes of a girl. A world that didn't consist of this. It was hard to decipher what the dreams meant at first but I came to realize I was a reincarnated soul.

I had lived a happy life with my family, with parents that were normal and siblings that may be annoying but also totally normal.

I don't recall how I died or came to be. I remembered vague pieces of being an infant and being carried around but that was it. I had been in this tower for as long as I could remember, I had never stepped out of this place yet I had memories of another, vast world, which led me to that conclusion.

I wasn't quite fully That Girl in the dreams anymore (my gender was a testament to that fact) but I wasn't fully, really, Wahrheit Solange. I was a mixture of both. But I couldn't exactly confirm this.

People that might help me was far away. The reason why I didn't instantly recognize the world I was born in was probably because I was in an island far, far away from that guild.

I could deny it all I want but the first few years of my life but after seeing Jellal Fernandes in person, I felt that I could no longer deny it.

I had been born into a fictional world, to a woman who abruptly gained a backbone after the loss of her first-child and decided to up and leave before her abusive husband could take away her second child: me.

He was flesh and blood, the hand that fell to ruffle my bubblegum pink hair was that. I was trembling in shock and in fear when I realized who he was so his hand lingered deliberately longer to frighten me.

The people I called prisoners were actually volunteers. No one had dreams of leaving. I have no idea what charm Jellal had placed on them but I was displeased. They even told me how lucky I was for having Master Jellal pay special attention to me.

I was ready to leave this stinkin' R-system.

There was one tiny problem: I had no way out. There were no boats and I could recite in my sleep how that came to be. The older prisoners murmured darkly of the red-haired traitor.

Erza Scarlet. That was her name. I spent one whole day wracking my brains for her name; it had been years since I watched the anime and I admit, I didn't have the best memory.

"Wahrheit!"

I blinked, raising my head when the woman called my name for the third time. It took some time getting used to this odd name. Wahrheit, truth in German. At least, in my old world, it had that meaning. I'm not sure what Wahrheit meant in this world; for all I know, Wahrheit could be a name as common as Emily.

"Yes, Mother?"

My tone was formal, curt even. As was usual, I caught the brief flash of hurt in her eyes, before she pulled up the smile that I had gotten quite used to seeing: smile that hid the fear in her eyes. I knew why there was fear whenever she saw me. I wasn't a normal baby, I didn't giggle or cry nor did I reach out for hugs, I never thirsted for her affection. I could speak words she swore she had never taught me.

Ever since I realized I was a baby, it had been a damned torment. I had to put up with being helpless and dependent on the woman to keep me alive. I started crawling and walking earlier than babies usually do. I was quiet, never laughed nor cried.

What was the point?

Crying wouldn't make things better; and I had no reason to laugh.

This place was a prison no matter what they say, they were just deluding themselves.

The woman I had yet to affectionately call 'Mom' was still staring down at me, a glazed look in her eyes. "If you hadn't noticed, Mother," I pointed out with a tiny hint of sarcasm seeping through. "I'm quite busy carrying rubble."

"I'm sorry," she said helplessly. I had already lost count of how many apologies she gave me. And I wasn't always sure what she was apologizing for. That she had led us into this sorry excuse of an existence or that she had done something to displease me or she simply liked saying those words, as if they soothed her.

I shot her a look of deep impatience.

Genevieve Solange wasn't a bad person, she was just... weak-willed. She loved me, I could see it in her eyes, no matter who much she thought I was unnatural, a freak.

"It's okay," I grumbled, eyes softening. "I'm just sore all over. So," I prompted, awkwardly. But this wasn't unusual. Once I was old enough to hold conversations, we had two modes: awkward or silence. "What did you want?"

"I got you your favorite treat," Mother said, eyes lighting up as it often did whenever she tried to cheer me up. "You like strawberries, don't you?"

"Y-yeah," I muttered, gazing at the fresh strawberries in her palm. In this life, I had only eaten strawberries twice. I suppose it wasn't that much of a surprise that Genevieve remembered I loved this fruit; it was, after all, the first time I smiled genuinely at her.

"You have a beautiful smile," she'd told me later when I asked why she laughed and looked so happy after she'd fed me the strawberries, holding me close to her chest—I was three. "You just don't smile often."

"It might not be as sweet as before though," said Mother, apologetically.

"It'd be sweet if you dip it in chocolate," a completely unfamiliar and new voice butted in.

Mother was so startled, she jumped and the strawberries dropped out of her hand. I stared blankly at the dirty treat; before, hatefully, teeth gritted, I raised my head to see who had interrupted. My glare was vicious but my fury stuttered and faltered when I saw Jellal smiling—_the smile that didn't reach his eyes_—at me.

"M-Master Jellal," Mother whispered, casting me a frightened glance. She swept her pink hair from her eyes, which meant that she was nervous. The fear on her face made me wonder if she went through illegal means to get the strawberries.

Jellal gazed curiously at us, then he stepped forward.

I didn't like the look in his eyes. The fear that gripped my chest, forming a knot in my throat— uncomfortable and suffocating— I tried to calm down, but I was so emotional, my panic drowned everything to a loud, vacuuming sound—

I winced, Mother let out a soft shriek, as the spot where Jellal previously stood exploded into nothingness. There was a tiny crater where he once stood.

Mother's hands flew to her heart, gripping the fabric over her chest. Her breath came in short gasps.

I didn't delude myself into thinking that the blue-haired boy was dead as much as I wish it was so.

"See, Jellal? I told you there _are_ others."

Jella's voice right behind me startled me bad but I credited myself for not leaping like a toad just because I was take by surprise. A shudder rippled through me. "I suppose so," he hummed. "Wahrheit's Eternano seems to be twice of a child his age."

My heart thumped uncomfortably loud and I wondered if Jellal who stood directly behind me could hear it. Sweat broke out; I clenched my fists, unsure as to whether or not I could physically overwhelm him.

Being a measly, emaciated six-year-old and he being a healthy twelve-year-old, I assume not.

"Perfect," growled the gruff voice and I finally raised my head to see who had been Jellal's companion. Mother let out a squeak and back away when he strode towards me. Thanks, Mom, I thought sarcastically. "His talent would be completely wasted if he continues to work as a slave here. Wahrheit, was it?"

Seeing no other option, I nodded.

He extended a worn, cocoa-skinned hand toward me. His charcoal eyes were actually kind. Long silver-gray hair framed his face squarish face; he was a thickset man, a firm and unwavering air around him. I stared at his staff; it was long but what drew my attention was the skull on it, and the blue orb in the skull's mouth.

"Y-you are—"

"My name is Brain," he said before I could finish asking. "And I would like you to come with me."

He was shining with a beacon of hope, my way out of this prison, this slavery; what would you have done?

I reached out and—

* * *

**:: :: :::**

_The name was inspired by Teito Klein's real name from 07-Ghost. I thought it sounded unique enough, there's no particularly deep meaning to it. And if you view my profile, you'd know who Wahrheit is related to._

_So what do you think? Like always, constructive criticisms/suggestions are very much appreciated!_

_Review and tell me what you think please!_


	2. Chapter 2

**Hiro Mashima © Fairy Tail**

* * *

**Dragons Among Us**

**Chapter 1**

by GaleSynch

* * *

I didn't turn back.

Not even as Mother screamed my name and tried to run after me. "Wahrheit! Wahrheit! Come back—" Brain's hand gripped my shoulder tighter, squeezing reassuringly, as he guided me out of that place. Eventually, Mother's voice was drowned out by the distance or maybe she had collapsed from the shock. I wondered what Jellal had done to her—she was screaming in his ear after all, I doubt anyone would be happy about being subjected to that.

I hesitated, steps faltering, but Brain kept pulling me along. Don't bother, I told myself, irritated.

I now knew who he was. His face was free of black marks and I assumed it was because the Oración Seis had yet to be formed.

It was my first time outside.

The night sky was bright with twinkling stars winking down at me. The euphoria of finally seeing the sky for the first time in six years filled me, and I grinned widely at the sight.

I had never thought the night sky could be so welcoming.

Brain chuckled at my expression. He had released his hold on my shoulder now that I had proven freedom was way more important than my mother.

What he didn't know of course, was that I had never once considered Genevieve my real mother. My mom was in another world, a character in a chapter that had ended. I didn't know if I would be able to return to that chapter but I know I will miss it, I will miss my real mom.

All I care about now was that I'd finally be getting away from that hellhole.

* * *

**~X~**

* * *

Brain led me up the ship. I had only seen its exterior but I had decided in the span of three minutes that this ship was way better than the Tower of Heaven (pah!).

"You're not the only child," he told me. "I had taken seven others with me. All of them are considerably older than you but your magical potential far exceeds theirs." He led me down the hallway. After years of walking on rocky terrains, I found the wooden floorboards of the ship to be extremely unusual.

Brain didn't seem to think too much of it.

We only turned once before we came to a stop. "This is the room the eight of you will share," he said at my astonished look. "Come, I will introduce you to them."

He didn't knock before opening the door. He startled someone so bad they dropped something, the sound of a dull _thunk!_ indicated a thick and heavy non-glass material.

As one, a chorus of "Brain-sama!" greeted our entry.

I saw the future members of the legendary Dark Guild, miniature versions of them at least. But there were two other I didn't recognize. The girl with snowy hair was the easiest to identify as Angel. She glanced uncertainly at me, as did the rest of the kids.

"This is your newest member, Wahrheit. Well? Introduce yourselves," prompted Brain, his tone not unkind.

"I'm Macbeth," offered the black-haired boy with startling red eyes, there were dark rings around his eyes, as if he hadn't had a good night's sleep in quite awhile. His voice was soft and I needed to strain my ears to catch what he'd said.

"Sorano," said Angel timidly.

"Richard," the largest kid said, grinning awkwardly at me. His blue eyes were curious.

"Melon, um, you can call me Mel," said the freckled-faced girl, her black hair was like a shiny black helmet on her face.

"I'm Shane," This boy had an easy grin as he extended a hand toward me. I took his hand and shook it gingerly before releasing quickly.

"'m Sawyer," said the blonde-haired boy. His nose was impressively sharp and long. I got the impression I was standing in front of Pinocchio.

The last boy, tan-skinned and red-haired, grunted, arms crossed over his thin chest. "Erik."

Brain nodded, apparently satisfied. "Right, now that we're all gathered, I'll be ordering the captain to set sail." Sorano practically vibrated with excitement. She wasn't the only one, the rest were most anxious to leave, including me. "While waiting for dinner, the eight of you may get to know one another and... if you wish, change your names. Shed your past," he elaborated when he saw our blank faces. "Become a new person, under a new identity."

And he left, robes billowing him and the door slammed shut.

I didn't hear any clicking sounds so I assumed he hadn't locked it.

I swallowed, glancing back at them.

_Build a new identity, eh?_

I wasn't the only one who was eager to do so. Sawyer started pacing the length of the small room. "I've decided," he announced to the rest of us watching him. "I'll be Racer! I've always liked running."

"So it's going to be based on something we like?" wondered Richard.

"Anything that represents ourselves I think," I murmured, not needing to raise my voice to be heard.

"Then I shall be Angel!"

"Well, Cubellios, we've talked about this before, didn't we? I'm going to be as venomous and as fearsome as the poisonous cobra."

"I like Mel as it is," Mel whispered. "My mom named me."

"I don't really care," Shane shrugged.

What's so scary about a cobra? I glanced around; Richard, Macbeth and I had yet to name ourselves. Macbeth wandered over to his hammock that would serve as his makeshift bed. "What time is it?" he asked softly.

"It was dark outside," I said. "I think it's night or midnight."

"Then I'll be Midnight," said the black-haired boy listlessly. "All I care is getting out of here."

"I need more time to think," Richard announced, going to his hammock and clambering on. "What about you, Wahrheit?"

He pronounced my name wrongly. I considered that. I shrugged. "Mars, I guess," I mumbled. I'd always liked the red planet that was neighbors with Earth.

Sorano snorted. "What sort of name is Mars-I-Guess?"

I rolled my eyes. "It's Mars. My new name is Mars."

"Okay, that sounds better, _Mars_."

I sighed.

* * *

**~X~**

* * *

We reach land in a few weeks.

During the first seven days, Brain had hinted heavily that the useless kids would be returned to the Tower of Heaven or worse, killed. In my opinion, the former was worse.

So we completed whatever Brain assigned us readily, without as little mistake as possible.

It also turned us all against one another.

No one wanted to go back to the Tower of Heaven. Brain decided to teach us the basics of hand-to-hand combat and supervised us himself. Being the smallest and youngest of the lot, I was easily tagged by them as the weakest.

I wasn't insulted. Let them underestimate me.

I had very little sleep due to paranoia, I wouldn't put it past the kids to smother me in my sleep. From what I could observe, the rest of the kids had very little sleep as well, if the black rings around their eyes were anything.

I yawned, shuffling into the ship's dining room. Only Mel was there; she glanced up, saw me, and quickly looked down. She was nursing a cup of hot chocolate, her quiet sips filled the silence in the air. Of us all, she was the quietest and drew little attention to herself, she didn't go out of her way to avoid us but she didn't try to get to know us either.

I think that this was a very smart move. The less we knew about the other, the better, when we were inevitably pitted against one another, we wouldn't have much more trouble obliterating the other. I just knew we would be forced to fight one another. There were only six wizards in the guild Brain planned to form.

And unless I managed to escape, I was probably going to die.

Ever since we stepped onto this ship, we had entered the preliminaries.

I was going to survive, by hook or by crook.

My lips were pulled into a grim frown—as I contemplated what to have for breakfast. I was careful to keep Mel in sight. They say the quietest ones were always the most dangerous.

It was a minor detail: the darker hand-print on her red mug.

(—and for the rest of my life after that, I would never be able to bring myself to hold a red mug)

But her hands weren't quite that large. And who on earth would hold a mug so tightly that they would leave an imprint?

That was when I saw the magic circle, a small circle, barely the size of Brain's fist.

I didn't have time to scream a warning, instincts kicked in and I bolted for the exit.

* * *

**~X~**

* * *

The following explosion brought everyone running. My ears were ringing from the sound of the explosion. I was dimly aware of Brain pulling me to my feet.

"What happened?" he inquired, sounding rather calm, as he waved his staff, smothering the flames. The smoke was clearing as Klodoa absorbed it.

I clutched my arm, even though the explosion had not reached me, I could still feel the heat. My heart was slowly working its way down my throat; I was scared. "Er..." I didn't know what to say myself as I had no idea what happened. Saying that an explosion had occurred was stupid. "The mug Mel was holding... exploded. There was a magic circle above it, I saw, before it exploded."

"Did you do it?" asked Cobra, awed as he was suspicious and wary.

I shook my head. "No, not me. My magical ability isn't that... and I never touched the mug. It had a hand-print on it." My eyes strayed to the kids. "One of ours."

Angel let out a small shriek, eyes fixed past my shoulder.

I turned and nearly lost whatever content there was in my stomach.

It was Mel.

What was left of her that is. Her corpse was... black, burnt, charred and the smell—

I bolted for the deck, hands cupped over my mouth, stomach churning, dimly registering Hoteye and Angel following, Midnight sliding to the ground, Cobra stumbling further away and Racer tearing out of the scene, yelling.

* * *

**~X~**

* * *

It was him.

When we saw Mel's corpse, he was the only one who didn't react. And I knew the other five perfectly well, none of them had such abilities. Shane, however, was an unknown adversary.

The next few days passed uneventfully, but everyone's nerves were jittery. Midnight jumped at every movement anyone made. I slept even less and had even more nightmares. It wasn't Mel haunting me, it was showing me various scenarios of what I would've become had I not managed to escape just in time.

Racer ran even more, training, straining to be faster than he was now so that he would be able to escape danger faster.

_Death or liberty._

It was on the second week that something happened.

I didn't know why he waited so long but one night, when I was finally able to fall asleep, a dreamless sleep to top it all of, he took action.

Muffled screams reached my ears, the sound of something crashing loudly against the wall jolted me awake. I applauded myself for not reacting, my eyes flew open, wide and alarmed. It took me a few moments to adjust. It was deep into the night and...

I squinted, rubbing my eyes off the crust of sleep. Hoteye was staring, wide-eyed at me. He raised a finger to his lips, signalling silence. The sound of muffled screams grew more urgent. I rolled over and saw—I inhaled sharply—Shane trying to murder Midnight in his sleep. A pillow was pressed over Midnight's face; the latter was smaller and younger than Shane who was the second largest, after Hoteye, but Midnight was putting up a rigorous fight.

I stirred, nonplussed and confused.

Why wasn't anyone doing anything?

The bed above me creaked and I knew Angel was awake. Across the room, I saw Cobra and Cubellios' luminous eyes watching, alert and fearful. Racer who slept atop Cobra was sitting up, rubbing his eyes. They were all aware what was happening but they weren't stopping Shane.

Midnight's thrashing was growing less and less violent. He was probably losing consciousness.

My hand slid under my pillow, gripping the kitchen knife I'd borrowed without asking a few days before. I should just let them kill one another, saves me the trouble and I had the feeling that this would be where Midnight would awaken his magic.

Why should I interfere?

But Shane... he was vulnerable now. His back was open. And I'd known firsthand how dangerous he was.

Mel's face flashed before my mind. Those nightmares... had it been her last message? To avenge her?

Midnight went limp.

I didn't think, I acted. In half a second, I'd launched myself out of the bed, knife grasped tightly, and stabbed downward blindly.

Shane howled in pain. I had missed his neck—my sight had never been the best in the dark—and if I had to guess, the knife was probably embedded deep into his shoulder blade.

Midnight—still alive—gasped hungrily for breath, rolling out of the bed and onto the floor, the other side of the bed.

With a roar, Shane threw me off him. I rolled away, well aware that I had miss an opportunity and if he utilized his magic now, I would be dead meat. Fear and adrenalin thrummed in my veins. He staggered to his feet, still wobbly. I was suddenly aware of how dark it was and I could barely make out his figure in the dark.

I inhaled sharply—

And Angel jumped down— the sound of shattering porcelain told me that Angel had used the plates she'd taken—so she did have a solid reason, and here I thought she liked collecting plates. Shane yelled. Cobra's voice braiding with his,"Go, Cubellios, bite him!" Feet pounding and more dark shapes blurred, barreling into Shane. Racer's form moved, lightning quick, and he joined the brawling trio with a guttural battle cry.

Angel had retreated, alternately throwing plates that shattered when it connected with something solid; more than one boy was yelling in anger and pain. I clambered back onto my bed, out of the line of fire. Hoteye bustled onto my bed and vaulted off, tackling the three boys.

"Let go!" roared a voice I recognized as Shane.

"Get the lights!" Racer cried.

Angel obeyed and with a slap of the switch, light flooded the cramp quarters. I was momentarily blinded and I had to cover my eyes. Once I reopened them, I saw Angel chucking the last of her plates at Shane's head. His head lolled.

Hoteye who was restraining Shane winced as a stray shard cut his forearm. There was Shane's handprint on the front of his shirt. "Thanks," he grumbled, sarcastic.

Angel shrugged. I glanced at the rest of them. Midnight had pulled himself back onto his bed, chest still heaving; his eyes were wild as he searched for an enemy, lips still tinged blue. Cobra was cradling his pet snake, lower lip bleeding. Racer's right eye was swelling. Both boys had a handprint on their cheeks.

"Mars," said Hoteye, breaking the stunned silence. Shane was limp in his hold, Angel's plate connecting soundly with his head had knocked him unconscious. "Can you please get the sack from under my pillow?"

I did as told, senses heightened by adrenaline, and handed Hoteye his sack. "Help me roll Shane into it," he grunted.

"We're throwing him into the sea?" Cobra sounded hopeful. "I'd always hated that bastard."

I used the knife and cut a fine ribbon from my thin blanket. "We can tie him up," I offered, not meeting Hoteye's eyes. I fixed my gaze pointedly across the room, on Angel who looked mildly sick. Midnight was trembling slightly but when Hoteye, Racer and Cobra frog-marched the sack out of the room, he slid off his bed and followed.

He lingered at the door, looking back. "Coming?" His voice was as soft as ever—and still very much vulnerable, I realized.

I hesitated, cast one glance at Angel, before I jumped off the bed and ran after him.

We couldn't lock him up and hope Shane would suffocate because there was a high chance the crew of this ship or Brain would find him and free him. Angel—who had eventually followed—suggested offhandedly we chuck Shane into the sea. Midnight insisted that he do it.

We stood back and watched—gape, in my case—as Midnight and Cobra heaved the sack and toss it, their thin arms so used to labor work in the Tower of Heaven, straining and trembling under the weight before—

The sack hit the water surface with a heavy splash.

"Done," Cobra hissed.

Two dead.

Six brats left.

In silence, Hoteye led us back to our sleeping quarters, possessing the best sense of direction. We stood at the foot of our respective beds, awkwardly eyeing one another. Midnight seemed keenly aware that no more would a sandy-haired boy be bidding him a goodnight before climbing up the ladder to his bed above.

Midnight closed his red eyes.

"Thanks."

He cracked an eye open briefly when he realized he wasn't the only one to have spoken.

All of us had said the same word at the same time.

I exchanged awkward glances with Angel before she climbed up the ladder and settled onto the bed atop mine.

We left the lights on.

But we had the best sleep since we boarded this ship.

* * *

**~X~**

* * *

**Survival Note:** Don't stand out, make sure you'd be an ally to all parties. They'd keep you around.

**Answer to Guest Reviews:**

**MewMew:** He did, happy? Well... I ain't the kindest person walking on earth so cold-hearted might be a surfacing trait in my OCs. We'll see about the moral values thing, lol. Oh yeah, about the TPH's fanart, did you draw it? :P

**Laevo:** Thanks for reviewing!

**Review!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Hiro Mashima © Fairy Tail**

* * *

**Dragons Among Us**

**Chapter 2**

by GaleSynch

* * *

"Where's Shane?"

"He's gone," I answered when not one of the kids looked close to speaking. All of us were alert, no longer bleary-eyed because we had gotten a good night's sleep.

Brain did not pursue the topic further. But his gaze, shifting from one of us to another, was calculating. Evidently, he didn't think we could work together. There was an unspoken agreement among us that we do not harm one another.

Hoteye had admitted that Mel was a friend of his and he had been furious at her death; Cobra had always thought Shane was an asshole; the rest of us partook in defeating Shane because he was the most danger to us.

An enemy of an enemy is my friend.

I did feel guilt churning in my gut at the thought of Shane—in the end, we weren't different, he wanted to live as much as we did. But it eventually dissipated. After all, I hadn't pushed him into the sea. His blood was not on my hands.

(I was innocent, I did no wrong and my enemy is dead, I could just burst into a song)

This was how the world worked. The strong were targeted to ensure their safety, the weak were targeted because they could not defend themselves. That night, yesterday night, I had proven myself to not be as weak as they initially thought I was, but certainly not the strongest either.

No more deaths or accidents happened and Brain didn't try to get rid of anyone.

We reached the main land on the third week. I could kiss the ground. I had missed this, the feeling of firm ground beneath my feet. While I was not seasick, the vast expanse of sea could be sickening after the novelty wore off and I think the others shared the same sentiments.

"We will walk," Brain told us. "No complaining. A good wizard must be strong in both mind and body."

With that said, he cut off any protests that might come, Brain marched forward, the rest of us trudging after him like the obedient little soldiers we were.

We weren't complaining; the older kids were used to working as slaves, which meant hard work from morning till night. I had only started a week before I was spirited away by Brain but this body was durable and lasted far longer than my original body could have.

For this, I was grateful. I didn't want to come off as a weakling.

The sun was in the middle of the sky by the time we arrived and my legs were ready to fall off. I wasn't the only one, Angel and Hoteye looked as tired as I felt. Hoteye was, uh, big-boned and Angel was a delicate creature. Racer was only covered in a thin layer of sweat; Cobra and Midnight weren't as tired out as us.

"This will be our base of operation," said Brain, he hadn't broke a sweat and Racer shot him a deep look of admiration.

I rolled my eyes. We crossed the vast distance toward the main entrance. It was a castle; built from marble and roofed in blue. I let out an appreciative whistle as Brain allowed us entry. The Entrance Hall alone could fit an average mansion—or it was because of my extra-small height.

"I will send each of you a map," Brain announced, finger tapping the side of his head.

I couldn't sense anything different but— something tickled my head and — with sudden clarity, I knew my way around. "I downloaded this information into your minds so it would not be too hard to find your way around. The seven of you will be sharing a room. Move along. See you at dinner."

There were eight beds and it made me wonder if Brain had intended to bring all eight kids he handpicked intact to this castle. I shrugged. Tough luck.

Mel's face surfaced, that shy, freckled girl and what became of her.

"I need a bath," I muttered to no one in particular before leaving.

* * *

**~X~**

* * *

"You're not Daddy-material," I told Brain, smiling sarcastically as I gestured to my sweatshirt, a mixture of blue, pink and purple. The cuffs were grey and so was it hood. I was complaining about the unicorn head embroidered to its front: it was ugly.

Brain shot me an amused look. "I was unsure of your gender, Wahrheit."

"Mars," I corrected just because I wanted to say something. Truth to be told, I didn't really care what he called me as long as it wasn't anything insulting. I ran a hand through my shoulder-length pink hair that fell in a damp curtain. Ah, a two-hour long shower after six years without a proper bath. Awesome. "Where are the others?"

"They're— there they are. Hurry up!" Brain barked, all good humor gone.

"Nice," Angel shot me a sarcastic smile, flaunting forward with her white sundress. Midnight came to stand beside me; he was wearing a white shirt beneath the black sweatshirt—at least he looked sensible. The rest of the gang showed up, all in relatively new clothes.

I shoved my hands into the pockets of my jeans, watching Brain expectantly for his next instruction. For a fraction of a second, I swore uncertainty flashed through Brain's eyes. I doubted he had experience in handling children.

"Have any of you decided which type of magic you wish to specialize in yet?" Brain inquired. "Those who had decided, step forward."

Only Cobra and Racer did.

"All right... Mars and Hoteye, step back. Angel and Midnight... right, stay where you are. Cobra and Racer, come over here."

I plopped down on the sofa when Brain led Racer and Cobra into the next room, leaving the four of us alone. Midnight wandered around before settling down directly opposite of me. He was the second-youngest, being older than me by four years. Cobra and Angel were about a year or two older than him, Racer and Hoteye were already in their young-teenage years.

I was uncomfortably aware of how easy they would be able to physically overpower me.

I was wondering what sort of magic I wanted when Brain re-entered the room, Racer and Cobra absent.

"Alright, Mars, you first, come forward." I did as told, coming to a stop before Brain and looking up at him.

"Yeah?" I prompted.

"Do you remember when we first met? What you did?"

I blinked. "Yes," I said. "I was about to eat strawberries before Jellal so rudely interrupted and caused Mother to drop my favorite snack."

"Do you recall how you made that crater? Did you feel any different when the crater appeared?"

Tongue pressed to the side of my cheek—old habit—I thought about it. "Yes, I heard a loud... _vroooming_ sound. Does that count as something?"

Brain nodded. "Now, I want you to go to the courtyard where Racer already is. I want you to try and replicate that feat. That is your natural ability—"

"Natural—?"

"Everyone with potential to be a mage on Earthland is born with at least one affinity. The type of magic that lies dormant within them." I straightened, listening with rapt attention. "Their magic is usually defined by the age of six or seven, it depends entirely on their nature."

"I see... so... I'm explosive?"

"Perhaps it says something about your temper," suggested Brain. "As I was saying, you will be strongest when you use your natural magical ability. It is advisable to master it before you move on to something else."

"What if it's a liability?"

"Then overcome it and make it an ability. Pour all your concentration into it, imagine the sound you hear when it first happened. You'd know you're succeeding if you see a magic seal. Go on." Brain patted my shoulder in a fatherly fashion, ushering me out.

I darted out of the living room, excited to start learning magic.

* * *

**~X~**

* * *

If I wasn't trying so hard to concentrate, I would's sprang up and punched Racer in the face. Gritting my teeth, I hissed, "I thought you were doing laps to increase your stamina and speed?"

"I took five," answered Racer immediately, snickering. "So, is your magic ability that has so much potential that?" Sarcasm dripped from his tone like the sweat from his brow.

"What? You saw nothing." I _felt_ nothing. I opened my eyes, nothing seemed to have happened.

"It allows you to imitate a statue, is it?" Racer giggled.

I whipped around to glare at him. "How can I do anything when you're so distracting? This courtyard's fucking big—go to the other side!" Before I could murder Racer, he shot off, laughing his head off.

I grumbled, knowing that my chances of catching him were nil—unless I unlocked my ability now. I had used it when I was furious with Jellal—also fueled by fear.

I furrowed my brows, deciding to concentrate on those negative emotions. I placed both hands over my ears, pressed down tightly to erase Racer's annoying cat-cools and jeers, imagining the vacuuming sound I'd heard.

Vroom... a droning sound... getting steadily louder— drowning every sound—

"Gah!" I yelled in shock when I found myself face-first on the ground, nose tickled by the scent of fresh-grass. It was Racer—he tackled me. I lost it. "That's it!" I shouted furiously, pushing Racer off me and springing to my feet. Before I could kick Racer or beat him into a bloody pulp, a familiar large and callused hand fell on my shoulder.

I recognized the touch as Brain's. I stiffened, forcing down the lump of anger. "Just one punch," I muttered. "One punch and I'll listen to what you have to say next."

"Racer saved your life, Mars," said Brain; I looked up at him in disbelief, only to see a thoughtful frown on his face as Racer scrambled to his feet.

"How?" I spluttered.

"Did you see the magic circle around your hands? You look like you're trying to blast your head off!" Racer cried.

"He's right," Brain agreed, flicking Racer a look of approval that made the older boy _glow_. I scowled in deep disgust. "Good instincts, Racer. You can go to the dining room, training's over for today. Mars, I did not mean you."

I, who had already inched three feet away, stopped and sighed heavily. Fear settled in when Racer took off, leaving me alone with Brain. I didn't realize the moon had already risen in the darkening sky. "Are you going to punish me or something?" I wondered, trying to keep the fear from my voice.

"No, what makes you think that?"

"You don't look happy," I said.

Brain sighed. "First time with children," he murmured, words obviously not meant for my ears. I shifted on my feet, glancing up at him through my long pink bangs. "Look, Mars, I thought you knew—your magic is volatile, if you aimed at yourself, you would've ended up hurting yourself or worse, killed."

I nodded to show my understanding. "Yeah, I'll direct my magical energy somewhere else next time."

"It's best to use your hands to direct where you want your magical energy to flow to since you're still new to this."

"It's hard," I sighed.

Brain grunted. "First day. No wonders there. I'm not asking for a miracle from you kids. Let's go."

* * *

**~X~**

* * *

This time, I placed my hand forward, palm upward, directly at the tree bark. I concentrated on the memory of the sound, loud and drowning, and from within, summoned the fiery energy demanding to be released—

With an explosive bang, the tree splintered in half.

I exhaled shakily, feeling weak-kneed. I felt tired even though I just had breakfast.

Racer who seemed to have made teasing me his favorite past time sprang up from behind me, peering over my shoulder to see the remains of the tree. "I distinctly remember the tree being taller. Where's its middle?" Good point.

I frowned thoughtfully. "I'm going to ask Brain."

Brain was in his study. I called for him mentally and he instantly responded, alerting me as to where he was. I knocked on his door twice before gaining permission to enter.

"Brain?"

"Yes. What is it, Wahrheit?"

"My new name's Mars," I pointed out.

Brain smiled faintly. "I, personally, favor Wahrheit. Do you mind?"

"No, not at all. Anyway, I came here because I wanna ask you something. My magic... what is it exactly? It's not like Shane's, is it?" The thought of having anything similar to that kid was disgusting. The thought of Shane was always accompanied by Mel's burnt corpse—a thought not worth revisiting.

If I concentrated hard enough, I could still feel the fear, hear the explosion and the helpless I felt was not something I wished to experience again.

"No," said Brain eventually, rubbing his forehead. I wondered if he was using that Archive magic of his. "No, Shane's magic is Remote Spontaneous Combustion. His targets are marked through touch and he explodes or implodes whatever he's marked whenever he chooses to. You didn't touch anything. And you noticed that the tree is missing its half?"

"You were watching?" I stood on tiptoes, looking past his high chair to see the sunlight slanting in through those large windows.

"Yes. At first, I assumed your power was similar to Shane, except that you do not need to touch anything to force something into combusting. After careful observation—"

"It was just one combustion—"

"Let me finish, Wahrheit." Brain leveled me a stern look to ensure my silence before continuing. "I believe you have the ability to create portals to another plane, a place of non-existence."

"Thanks. That cleared things up."

"The tree is missing its middle because you banished it into... _somewhere._ It's gone. Probably irretrievable. It's very destructive," Brain added helpfully. "The last few users in recorded History ended up Banishing themselves."

I gaped at him. My expression must've been priceless because he actually looked sympathetic. "I will supervise your training, especially when you're trying to control this power. While it is advisable you master it, I prefer you to not use it unless you're in a dire situation."

"Then what's the point of mastering something I'd never be able to use—?"

"That is a last resort," Brain explained patiently. "And it will also be useful to stop yourself from utilizing it whenever you're furious. Your type of magic is _extremely_ sensitive to negative emotions—" Brain stopped himself. Was it pity in his eyes? He was not helping my anxiety.

"Then," I swallowed the lump in my throat, trying to squash down the unease enough to talk properly. "Then what magic can I use?"

"My type of magic: Darkness magic." Brain snapped his fingers and a whip of green lashed at me, snapping like a whip in front of my face, blowing my hair wild, but didn't connect. I suppose he wasn't trying to punish me. Nevertheless, my heart was racing from the sudden movement. Did I mention how much I hate surprises? "We'll start tomorrow morning. Why don't you join Racer and run a few laps? Physical fitness is also important to be a good wizard."

I nodded, taking my leave.

I left, unable to erase the feeling that he was hiding something from me.

* * *

**~X~**

* * *

"That's it!" I yelled, ripping the pillow they'd thrown from my face. "I'll kill you!"

What my magic was capable of kept me awake till midnight; and I only had a few hours of sleep before I was woken up by these bunch of idiots. Across the room, Angel shouted for Cobra, Hoteye and Racer to stop it before she delivered judgement upon us. Midnight ignored our antics, rolling over onto his side and continued snoring.

I launched myself at them, joining in the fray.

I made sure to punch Racer more than either Cobra or Hoteye because the former just liked pissing me off. Tiny fangs sank into my forearm; I hissed in pain, grabbed Cubellios and threw her away—earning Cobra's ire as he lunged at me next, swinging his fist.

I deflected the first punch but he kneed me in my gut.

I was winded; gasping for breath, I ducked the next swing, seized his forearm and twisted, flipping him onto his back. Cobra let out an indignant cry. My arms trembled from the strain of lifting him—I was probably stronger in physical terms than only Angel who refused to partake in such violent brawls.

I didn't know why the three boys were fighting again; I just knew they had woken me up from peaceful sleep and I was ready to exact vengeance —

"What is the meaning of this?" Brain's voice boomed.

I stiffened, Cobra's fist that was close to connecting with my forehead stopped mid-air. It was Brain. I sprang up so fast, after-images of myself formed.

Brain looked thunderous. "I thought I told you all to not fight outside of spars?"

I blanched. "They started it!"

"That's it: pack your bags"—we flinched, the prison flashed before my eyes tauntingly—"all of you are going to different parts of the castle. Claim a territory, you're sleeping there."

I relaxed, exhaling. "I want the library. The library less frequently used by you. I like reading," I said by way of explanation.

"May I have the kitchen?" We stared at him. Hoteye shrugged. "Hey, a guy's gotta eat. I'm in a growing stage."

Midnight cast his eyes around. "The gallery." That place may be filled with paintings but it was also spacious, suitable for training I suppose. He never struck me as an artistic person though.

"The dungeons. Cubellios likes the rats down there."

"I want the ballroom," Angel demanded.

"The courtyard. But where do I sleep?"

Brain frowned at Racer, not unhappy. "Here. Only you remain here. The rest of you—move out." Racer shot us a smug look despite the blossoming bruise on his right cheek. I went to my dresser, grabbed the knapsack Brain supplied us and started shoving the clothes in.

I didn't posses much article of clothing so I packed quickly.

Brain glared us out of the room that now belonged solely to Racer's. The library took up nearly all of the East Wing, it was connected to Brain's study—which was the topmost part of the adjoining libraries—but to make sure I did not disrupt him, Brain assigned me the part of the library that was connected to the basement and kitchen.

No problem; Hoteye and I got along just fine but his tic to end sentences with _right_ or _yeah_ was damned annoying.

There was a room in the library, after climbing down a flight of ladders, seeing nothing but rows of bookshelves and molding book spines, I was very grateful to enter the room.

It was a low-ceilinged room, quite cramp. There was a king-sized bed squashed into the corner, a few paintings, and rows of books atop the bed. The night-table had one lamp lighting the area; a door leading to what I assume was the bathroom, a study desk next to it, and a dresser at the foot of the bed. I dropped my bag on the carpeted ground.

I frowned; the silence and semi-darkness were eerie.

At least I hadn't been as silly as Cobra to chose the dungeons. I'd like to see how he hold up in the winter.

"Well, home sweet home."

Any place is better than the Tower of Heaven, I thought wearily.

* * *

**~X~**

* * *

The next few years passed in mundane routine: wake up, train, sleep. Breaks for supplement in between. It wasn't until our second month to our stay that Racer revealed that he was illiterate and so did the rest of them. Captured as kids and enslaved for a few years with no books must've severely stunted them.

Brain instantly called for intensive tuition sessions with him personally teaching them but I was let off the hook with a few books Brain told me to read up on and that he'd quiz me and see how well I was faring. Should I fail a quiz, I would be joining the five older kids in their studies.

I shot Cobra and Racer a smug smile; I have a free period all to myself.

"Nerd," Cobra muttered, knowing that I was going to read the books in the library.

Time was an elusive thing. I woke up one day and realized, dimly, that a year and a half had passed. None of us had died and Brain didn't seem keen on kicking me out anytime soon.

Brain minimized the number of fights by separating us but whenever we met up in the training grounds, we wouldn't hesitate to try to kill one another...

"What're you doing?" Cobra asked, snatching the paper from my hands.

...nor can he fully stop us from entering the other's territory.

"Give it back," I hissed, latching onto the paper, the drawing I had spent so many hours on. The paint was still wet, if he smeared it—

"Oh," said Cobra and right before my eyes, he dragged his fingers down the painting I'd spent so many hours working on. The phoenix, the fire, the different shades. I let out a cry of outrage. "Sorry." He sneered.

Ever since he'd started learning Sound Magic that occasionally allow him to read others' thoughts (he didn't have the best control just yet), he'd become unbearable to us all. Angel had slapped him about half a dozen times but he didn't learn his lesson at all.

"Get out!" I shouted.

Cobra winced at the loud volume but eventually edged away. "Fine," he grumbled. "Brain sent me to get you. He wants to talk."

"I'll report you!" I cried, entirely truthful. Cobra scowled but I stormed out of the library before he could get a word in. I threw open the doors to Brain's study without knocking, like I did a year and a half ago. You know why? After getting more comfortable with Brain, I'd lost the fear of him after learning and affirming that he wouldn't be sending me back to the Tower of Heaven.

The last time he released that subtle threat was aboard that ship—and that was that, the last time.

"Brain!" I said angrily. "It's Cobra—he's messing around and reading our private thoughts—_again_!"

In fact, I had been forced to keep my mind blank multiple times and to avoid thinking of that world. Argh! I bet Cobra's still eavesdropping on my thoughts. I've got to stop this train of thought—now!

Furiously, my eyes scanned the neat study, seeing Brain sitting at his desk and Midnight standing in front of him.

"Wahrheit, good to see you here." He steepled his fingers, eyeing me over them. I strode over to stand beside Midnight, frowning at him, fury in my eyes. "I'm sure you're anxious to find a way around Cobra's superb hearing."

I cocked my head to the side. "I'm listening."

"You must earn it. By earning the guild's insignia, by discharging a burst of magic into your insignia, it activates a seal that negates Cobra's hearing. I made it myself." Here, Brain allowed himself a self-satisfied smirk. "In fact, he can't hear my thoughts. Nor can he hear Hoteye or Angel's thoughts anymore."

"You want us to go on a quest," Midnight concluded. Angel and Hoteye had just returned from a quest, I heard. In this large place, we rarely ever saw one another unless Brain chose us to spar. Cobra always liked looking for one of us to piss off so I saw a lot of him, unfortunately.

Brain nodded, satisfied by our (or Midnight's) quick deduction. "Yes. Once you succeed, both of you will be a part of this guild."

"Deal," I snapped. "Let's go, Midnight."

"I haven't finished, Wahrheit. Patience is a virtue. As I was saying, I want Midnight to be the quest leader—before you demand why, Wahrheit, I will give you the reason: you are too brash for my liking, listen to what Midnight has to say and only object when you find his order to be... preposterous." He said the last word like he didn't believe it.

Brain thought Midnight could do no wrong, you see.

Out of the kids, Midnight was the most obedient and Brain said he was the fastest when it came to mastering control of his own magic.

Tch. I would've been the one to master my magic first if it wasn't so dangerous. So far, I had only managed to summon a portal the size of a kitten and only when it was four feet away. Something that earned Brain's critique about how dangerous it was—he kept reminding me every lesson, I was sick of it.

The further I chose to summon a portal, the more energy was drained of me, the harder it was to keep it open and the size of the portal grew smaller and smaller. The side-effects of creating the portal included a loud bang once it was summoned (which gave the illusion I had created an explosion) and when I concentrated on summoning it, the annoying vacuuming sound kept threatening to bust my eardrums.

There were garbage collectors more proud of their jobs than I was of my magic.

Brain told me that the sound would most likely fade once I completely mastered it. Which would not be possible until my Eternano develops more so that I wouldn't feel so drained every time I use it—he estimated that to be around five to six years.

To increase the amount of magical energy my Eternano can store, I had to meditate, something which I did nightly that resulted in little sleep for me—a tiny detail I was willing to sacrifice if it meant more power.

I was inclined to disapprove with Brain when he said our natural magical ability was easier to master.

I swear, I was making more progress with Darkness Magic and Shane's magic than I did with my own—pah!—Portal Creation. And the name was lame.

(I still suspect Brain was hiding something about it. Or lying outright. I'd skimmed the books in the library and even though I hadn't read half of it yet, I had not seen any sort of magic named Portal Creation.)

When I complained, Brain told me to come up with a name for myself. Easier said than done.

I decided to call it Hole and Cobra wasted no time telling me that whatever kid I might have in the future would be very unfortunate. It was a freaky thought: having kids, I mean. Having a gender-change through lives... would've changed anyone's perception to the mystery of human reproduction.

I blinked, coming back to reality when I realized Brain had been calling my name for the past three minutes and Midnight was snapping his fingers in front of my face.

"Unawareness," said Brain, in his best lecture-voice. "is unbecoming of a—"

"Let's go, Midnight," I cut in, seizing my guildmate's hand and dragging him after me.

**TBC...**

* * *

**Current Ages: **

Hoteye - [15]

Racer - [14]

Cobra - [13]

Angel - [12]

Midnight - [11]

Mars - [7]

* * *

**Answer to Guest Reviews:**

**MewMew:** Eh? Why no straight answer? .

**Nexa:** There's a picture of Mars in the title cover. Yes, he'd be 13 by the time the series start. Thanks for the review you two! XD

* * *

_**I started a Bleach SI (Male) so go and check it out and remember to—**_

**Review!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Hiro Mashima © Fairy Tail**

* * *

**Dragons Among Us**

**Chapter 3**

by GaleSynch

* * *

"No one's going to take us seriously," murmured Midnight sullenly, casting me dark looks, "if you don't get a change of clothes."

I rolled my eyes, stuffing my hands down the pocket of my jeans. "Look, I'm a seven-year-old kid, no one will look twice just because I have a unicorn frolicking on the front of my sweatshirt."

"At least unzip it," said Midnight, perturbed by the pink unicorns that winked at him from my front. "So it won't be too obvious."

"There's nothing bad about it," I insisted. Midnight looked ready to continue this pointless argument so I quickly asked, "Well, what's the quest about again?"

"It's not too hard," Midnight answered; he sounded calm and controlled but I knew he was secretly very excited. He had been sulking when he learned that he was not the first to be entrusted with a quest. Angel and Hoteye had been extremely smug due to their brilliant success.

I was glad my partner was Midnight. I would die if I was paired with Cobra. Tough luck, Racer. My dislike for Racer made me leap in vindictive glee that he would be stuck with Mr Annoying No.1. Midnight looked oddly at me but he didn't comment about how I was skipping around him.

"You were saying?"

Midnight sighed, unhappy about repeating but I tend to drift off even when Brain's lecturing me so he was sure he stood no chance of making me listen with rapt attention on his first try.

I grinned in response to his exasperation.

"We'd board the train in the next town and we'd head to Crocus, that's the capital city of Fiore. We've been hired as bodyguards to escort them out of Fiore. Apparently, there's some dispute among one of the Four Great Noble families: the Lemuria family. The head of that family died recently and he left a daughter. There have been about twelve assassination attempts."

"So even being near royalty is bad," I mumbled, more to myself than to Midnight. "I guess family isn't everything either. The kid's relatives are trying to kill her, right?"

"Yes." Midnight stopped. "We're here. This is Cedar Town," he told me when he saw my blank expression.

"Oh," I said, blinking. "Thanks for telling me."

Midnight shrugged and we started forward again. The townspeople didn't seem to care. "See? I told you they wouldn't notice the unicorns." Midnight did not grace me with a verbal response. After asking around, we found the train station pretty quickly and boarded the train that Midnight claimed would bring us to the capital city. I'm not sure myself as I was busy buying sweets from the souvenir shop.

"EH?" A loud cry came from somewhere behind me. "I got on the wrong train?" A groan followed. "And after the motion sickness I went through—ARGH!"

I snorted. What a wimp. I didn't like traveling by vehicles but even I didn't complain like that.

"Mars," said Midnight, tapping my shoulder for my attention. "Are you coming?"

"Mm-hmm."

* * *

**~X~**

* * *

Crocus was the large and grand but that was to be expected of the capital city. The buildings with bright facades and towers and extremely pointed tiled roof jutting upwards, were lined up the stone street's sides, some of which were pretty basic but as we crossed into another part, I saw some floral patterns.

It was crowded and jammed even though there were no cars or any other vehicles in sight. So different from my world... even the noises and smell were different... Clearly, this was a world untainted by air pollution.

I gripped Midnight's hand tightly in case we were separated. Neither of us have Brain's handy Archive magic or even Telepathy so if we were separated, it'd be almost impossible to find one another for sure.

Midnight didn't object, evidently, he had the same sentiments. If I got lost, he as the mission leader, would get a severe lecture from Brain.

"Excuse me, sir?" I still couldn't help but be surprised of how polite Midnight actually was.

The man guarding his stall raised a brow in askance. "What?" His voice was brusque, not polite as we were not potential customers.

"Do you know where the Lemuria Villa is?" Midnight, unperturbed, continued to use that polite tone.

"The Four Great families reside in the cardinal points of the city," the man said dryly, a wry twist to his lips. "I thought even toddlers know that." He sneered slightly at me. "Evidently not."

"Thank you."

I bristled angrily. "What? Why are we _thanking_ him? He hasn't even told us _anything_!" I yelled, drawing quite a few people's attention. "Where's the villa?"

"It's the one in the west, connected to those woodlands," grunted the man when an old lady nearby shot him a disapproving look.

"...Thank—"

"No need," I snapped, cutting in Midnight's sentence and dragging him away.

Due to the size of the city, it took us nearly an hour to reach the western of the capital (the railway station was in the eastern part) but courtesy of the physical training Brain insisted we go through, neither Midnight nor I were fazed. I must admit, I felt a little smug.

"The kind old lady gave us the address," I grumbled. "But where is it?" I glanced around. The streets were mostly empty by now, before us were stone walls, probably to ward citizens away from the forest.

Midnight frowned, examining the stone wall critically. Abruptly, he said, "Take my hand. We're going through it."

"You want me to blast through it?" I wondered, raising my left hand as my right was already grasped in his.

Midnight shook his head. "No, follow my lead."

He was a sensible person so I wouldn't be too worried but the fact was, we were walking towards the stone walls... a few more steps and we'd smack face-first into it—

I stumbled when Midnight broke into a run, pulling me along with him. I squeezed my eyes shut, bracing myself for the impact but it never came. My feet was still hitting ground. My eyes snapped open, the wind whipped my face, and I turned to look back. The wall stood where it was but now that we were beyond it, it shimmered.

Of course. Midnight's magic covered illusions, he could definitely tell an illusion when he saw one.

Note to self: place more faith in Midnight.

"What's with that smile?" he asked me.

"Hehe. Nothing, bro."

We ran right to the main entrance. I knocked on the door. A man opened the door but judging from his attire: white button-up shirt, red tie and black coat, I assumed he was only a butler. He peered suspiciously down at us. "What are you children doing in here?"

"We're wizards that accepted the job requests—DON'T YOU DARE SLAM THAT DOOR IN MY FACE—!" I gritted my teeth, fists clenching. I slammed both palms on the door before Midnight could stop me and sent small bursts of magical energy into it.

The door exploded. Midnight groaned. Shrieks and yells of alarm resounded from within. I stepped through the smoke, arms crossed, and glared at the butlers and maids.

"Will you listen now?" Midnight inquired, tone in polite mockery of what I'd done.

After the initial shock and wariness, the young lady we were supposed to protect showed herself. She was a delicate thing and I wondered why the wind hadn't done her in. Her hair was let loose, curly blonde locks turning gold under the sunlight. Her green eyes were warm and welcoming.

"I'm the one who hired you," she said. "My name is Tanya Lemuria. I wished we had met under nicer circumstances though." Her smile dropped as she sighed, world weary. Only then did I notice the black rings hidden under the thick dab of makeup.

_Girls and their makeup_, I thought, rolling my eyes. Then I froze._ Wait, am I insulting myself too?_

I left Midnight to listen to what our client had to say. I was too busy puzzling that out. I mean, I'm a girl in my past life... at least the memories indicated so... but this body's a boy. I usually pushed such thoughts out of my head. It was so freaky, especially when I had to go to the loo... yeuck!

"Mars!"

I blinked, snapping out of my daze. "Er, yeah?"

Midnight frowned disapprovingly down at me, a faint reminiscent of Brain. "Let's go."

"Where?"

"After Ms. Lemuria, she offered to give us a tour around her house and we need to be around her anyway."

"So we're going to be following her for the whole day?" I whined, springing to my feet and trudging after Midnight.

"Only until tomorrow evening, I think," said Midnight. "The birthday party would be held tomorrow."

I was completely disinterested in what the future Head of the House of Lemuria had to offer. Unless she decided to show us to the treasury or her vault, I doubt I would be paying much care about how to get there. I yawned, raising a hand to cover my yawn.

It was about ten at night and we were standing outside the heiress' room, completely bored out of our minds. Well, I am bored. I'm not sure about Midnight. "This is stupid," I muttered five minutes later, sliding down onto the carpeted ground, rubbing my eyes. I was a kid again, I need more sleep than the adults. "They're paying us 600, 000 Jewels just to stand here and look threatening?"

"There's nothing threatening about you," Midnight pointed out.

"Shut it," I snapped.

A chuckle came from down the hallway. I looked up to see the butler who'd slammed the door in my face coming over to us. In his hand, he held a tray that had two steaming mugs. "You must be tired," he told us, smiling sympathetically. I scowled. "I brewed you hot chocolate," he said to Midnight. "And milk for the little one."

"Hey!"

"Thank you," Midnight even allowed a small smile to slip through as he took the mug of hot chocolate.

The butler grinned. My eyes widened in alarm—mug, Mel, explosion. I struggled to my feet. "Midnight, don't—" The world twisted, curling and furling out like smoke. My scream caught in my throat as the ground gave away and I found myself tumbling down—and down—and—

"Mars?"

I groaned, forcing my eyes open. I rubbed the back of my forehead. "What?"

Midnight frowned down at me disapprovingly. Reminded me of Brain and I winced, sitting up, noticing how everyone was staring at me. The young heiress' blonde hair glowed gold under the sunlight—

Whoa. Sunlight? I fought the lulling sensation and rubbed my eyes furiously. "But I thought it's night!"

"You must be tired," Tanya Lemuria said, guilt clouding her clear green eyes. "I'm sorry to trouble one as young as you but... my mother insisted." She threw the stern-looking woman with graying hair an exasperated look. "If you're tired, we can skip the tour altogether."

"No, no," I said, raising my hand to my head, trying to stem the headache. "I— I'll just stay here. Midnight can watch you. I'll take a break."

Tanya nodded, rising. Midnight shot me an unreadable look before following our client.

The moment they were gone, I darted to the closest window and gawked at the scene that greeted me. Sunlight was streaming in through the windows and casting me a shadow. This was impossible. Did I have a prophetic dream or something? Or is this the dream?

I pinched myself, but nothing changed.

I crouched, squeezed my eyes shut and cast my thoughts back to what had happened. Butler Andrew serving us beverages. Midnight accepting the mug of hot chocolate. A blood-red mug.

I hate that color.

I hate mugs.

I hate—hate—hate what chaos they might be warning me about.

Someone died holding a red mug. Midnight won't be going the same way. By hook or by crook, I was going to destroy that red mug. I didn't care if I had to pay for it, as long as that thing stays in the same area as me and if I can help it, I was going to destroy it.

I asked the first maid I came across to bring me to the kitchen, saying that I was hungry. She had a bored, apathetic air about her and I'm pretty sure she'd let me in the kitchen if I said I was there to take a bath.

The servants of this household didn't know magic as they used the normal way to wash the plates. The red mug was plainly visible. I seized it, snatching it from the girl's hand. "I'm just going to—"

Everything paused.

Then it happened again; the world twisting in on itself, curling like smoke. I yelled as I was thrown backward, back missing the ground and falling back and back and—

"Mars?"

Midnight frowned at me. I was sprawled, half-way off the couch, gaping wordlessly up at him.

Again.

I nearly screamed.

Fortunately, I managed to swallow it. Midnight looked ready to lecture me but Tanya Lemuria, for the third time, offered to give us a tour. This time, instead of slinking away into the kitchen, I followed Midnight. Not one of them seemed to remember that this had happened twice already.

Was this time-travel?

This was no longer a dream or a nightmare or mere deja vu cases. It was all too vivid. Just to be sure, I pinched my cheek and, growing more frustrated at this farce, scuffed my foot on the carpeted ground. The soft sound drew Midnight's attention and he turned to me. "What's wrong?"

I contemplated telling him and letting him deal with it. After all, Midnight was a genius, or so Brain says. Somehow, the words didn't come out of my mouth.

Brain gave us a specific mission and assigned us partners because he knew we could work well together. This job was deliberately chosen to let us pass a test.

Midnight had probably passed his test by deciphering the illusion that kept his place hidden. I had yet to do anything to prove myself. I wouldn't put it past Brain to be watching us even now.

"Mars?"

I shook my head. "I'm okay. Let's continue the tour." I tossed Midnight a halfhearted grin, mind whirling for a solution to this dilemma. The prospect of being stuck in this was horrifying and the fear kept me motivated.

I knew it, the red mug was the key. Someone had placed a charm on it to turn back time. Touching it would result in an instant turn of time. It took seconds though. The time was long enough for me to combust it.

Tch. Ironic how Shane's magic used on a red mug once had killed Mel and yet, now, it was going to be what saves my life.

Really, life has a weird way of working things.

"Midnight, I want more sausages," I said, poking my guildmate in the ribs.

Tanya chuckled, taking a sip from her mug. "You two are like siblings."

I shrugged. Tanya rubbed her hands together. I frowned. "You're cold? Put on those comfy gloves I saw your mom wearing."

Tanya smiled. "Don't worry, it's out of habit. And besides, they aren't too fashionable..." She giggled.

I blinked, looking away. "Mm-hmm."

I continued the farce until ten. I was as tired as the first time but I forced myself to be alert and switched places with Midnight. This way, I would be able to take the red mug before he does. At exactly five past ten, the Andrew the butler showed up, smile on his face.

"You must be tired," he told us, smiling sympathetically. I scowled. "I brewed you hot chocolate," he said to Midnight. "And milk for the little one."

I launched myself at him, fingers closing around the red mug. It started working its magic: the world twisted.

Oh no you don't. "**Explode!**" As the red mug exploded into pieces, the world righted itself, straightening once more. The butler and Midnight both staggered back.

"Mars, what—" Midnight's eyes widened slightly when he saw the sun slanting in. It was noon, judging from the glaring light. "I though it was night—" The door to Tanya's room flew open; her golden curls were disheveled, eyes wild and wide.

"Do you know what day it is?" she demanded.

"No," I said, starting to have a sinking feeling about this.

Andrew fumbled for his watch. "Uh... it's broken."

I looked at Midnight. "Don't let Andrew out of your sight," I hissed at him from the corner of my mouth, taking the flustered heiress' gloved hand. "Let's go to the living room. We'd talk things out." We were all settled in and I was staring at my hands splayed in my lap, unsure of what to say.

It had been five days since we entered this mansion. Tanya's birthday had passed four days ago. And all the time, we were trapped, repeating the actions of May 23rd.

I shook my head. "Unbelievable."

"Only time in this household has been turned back," one of Tanya's faithful servant announced, gasping, having just returned from scouting for information in the city. "Everyone has been going on about their daily lives."

Tanya's mother scowled at us. "Why did it take you two so long to realize what was wrong?"

"I... I think it's because we triggered the charm," I mumbled, shrinking under the old lady's furious glare.

"WHAT?" she shrieked.

"Mother," admonished Tanya gently, holding up a hand to silence her. "Explain, Mars."

"Midnight and I are wizards"—I ignored the old lady's muttering of 'incompetent ones' and tried not to punch her—"and we're the only ones to not wear gloves. I think the mug activates at the touch of bare hands and since Midnight and I each touched it once in different times—"

"I doubt it's time-travelling," interrupted Midnight. "Control over time is a lost magic, no one has it anymore. I think it would be more plausible that this is hypnotism—a powerful hypnosis, charming us into reenacting May 23rd over and over again."

Tanya frowned. "I suppose it makes sense. If my birthday party was not held where I would be crowned, I would never be the true head of the Lemuria house."

"So that's what your relatives are aiming for," I mumbled.

"But who is the caster?" wondered Tanya, voice soft and tremulous. She was scared that someone she obviously trusted so much had betrayed her. Tch. I doubted it.

"Well, Andrew the butler brought the cups to us twice—"

"It wasn't him though," Midnight cut in, placing a hand on my head, warning me to not interrupt. "We do not know who it is. We just have to go on with your birthday party."

Hasty preparations were made. Tanya's mother supervised everything and under her stern glares and barks of disapproval, the servants were quick to made the necessary preparations. It was hastily done but it was still grand. Midnight and I stood guard over Tanya till night where we would take the night train back to Clover Town and walk all the way back to headquarters.

Tanya kissed my forehead. "Come and visit soon." Her smile didn't reach her eyes.

Midnight took my hand and we departed. I was tired, yawning every few minutes and after minutes of whining, Midnight agreed to piggyback me. I wrapped my arms around his neck, sighing. I wanted to sleep but a question kept bugging me.

"Hey, the reason you didn't let me finish back there, when I was about to reveal the culprit—"

"What were you going to do? Blame Andrew?"

"It wasn't him," I admitted petulantly. "Andrew was there for only three months—a newbie. This powerful hypnosis must have other mediums in the rest of the household, someone who knows it well enough to hide it where people wouldn't find it so easily and trigger a hypnosis even the caster was powerless to stop. At first, I thought it was him too. But then, I remember at dinner... Tanya was holding that red mug. Did you notice?"

"She was the only one who didn't wear gloves," Midnight stated. "And this morning, she didn't either. She looked almost sad."

I yawned, eyes drooping. "Never thought anyone would want to refuse such a political power offered to her... Don't understand it... I would've jumped at the chance to be the head of a noble house..."

People were strange.

**~X~**

* * *

**Thanks to all who reviewed—keep it up!**

**Q: Just curious, but which series is more popular? Bleach or Fairy Tail?**


	5. Chapter 5

**Hiro Mashima © Fairy Tail**

* * *

**Dragons Among Us**

**Chapter 4**

by GaleSynch

* * *

That mission was a failure since we arrived a few days later than designated. I swear, Midnight looked ready to cry. He kept his head down so even if he was crying, I wouldn't be able to see and Brain didn't seem to bother checking whether or not he was too harsh.

Cobra was smirking and taunting Midnight, still capable of hearing the younger boy's voice.

It was a spectacular sight: Midnight's temper reaching its limits.

Cobra got his ass handed to him and even though I failed in my mission, I cheered up and laughed.

**_:_:_**

Brain assigned us our next mission the next day. The job request brought us to Freesia Town where we were supposed to defeat a Dark mage, a Necromancer, that had been terrorizing the townspeople.

We boarded a train there, beat up some bandits on our way, to town.

It wasn't hard at all. Midnight's murderous glare pinned the Necromancer down like a nail. I socked him around until Midnight told me to stop. He wanted us to make it back home top-speed to impress Brain but I couldn't see how we were going to do that unless we sprouted wings to fly.

I voiced my thoughts to Midnight and, against all logic, he smiled softly. "The Necromancer had this." And he moved aside, showing me a red carpet.

"Oh," I said, wondering if this was Fairy Tail or Aladdin. "A carpet that can... allow us to walk faster?" I snorted.

Midnight didn't seem offended. "No, this is a flying carpet."

"Cool." I smiled. "So we're stealing."

Midnight frowned slightly. "Brain didn't say we were a Light guild, he didn't say we shouldn't steal."

"Hm. Good point." I rocked back on my heels before springing to my feet. "Well, let's go report to the mayor and head home!" Midnight returned my grin. I didn't know when I started to think of Brain's Castle as home, but it was better than having nowhere to return to.

I skipped down the narrow path, ecstastic that Cobra would no longer be able to hear my thoughts and I was free to think about my parents, my real parents.

I hadn't spared Genevieve any thought until recently. Did I miss her? No. She wasn't even my mother though I did pity her. I mean, she lost her first son and then her second son happened to be possessed by another soul from another world. Really, she was a nice woman which goes to prove that the nicest people have the worst luck.

Poor woman had to be stuck with me who didn't care much about people that were't directly related to me.

If she hadn't gotten me stuck for the first six years of my life in the Tower of Heaven, I might have loved her. Might have.

I was brooding, trying to remember how Genevieve looked like, all the way to the mayor's cottage. It was her maid that greeted us. "What happened?" Midnight asked, frowning when he saw the maid's pale face. He wasn't asking out of concern; he was worried that if the mayor drops dead, we would not be paid.

"I heard there was an emergency in the clinic." I blinked. If someone was mortally wounded, there was little this town's clinic could do for it. Freesia Town is one of the smallest towns in Fiore so the medical technology isn't too advanced.

"Go on," I waved her on when she glanced curiously between us, starting to sense Midnight's disinterest. He was looking at the birds in the sky.

"He was attacked by those Sanguineus Bats." I dimly recognized that species of magical creatures. From the books I'd read up on, those type of bats were thrice the size of an average bat and one suck from them was deadly. The wound was slow to close and most victims die as they suffer from extreme blood loss and lose their strength. "Poor thing, he was just a child—"

Even civvies from backwater towns like these were well-aware of that fact.

"When did he come in?" I asked sympathetically.

"Oh, just when you left to deal with the Necromancer. Did you succeed? Oh... well, here's your reward."

"Hold it," Midnight interrupted. "Why is this 50, 000 Jewels less?" Midnight was calculating like that.

The maid sighed. "The chances are little but we're going to gamble it anyway. Mayor Rose decided to, er, have blood transported from a larger hospital to here. You know her, she wants to save as many lives as she can... Eh, I think it has something to do with losing her grandson to a bat like that—"

Midnight was growing more and more upset. I doubt Brain would be happy either.

"We'll donate our blood," I cut in.

"We don't know if you're a compatible match—we look for family first but his pet cat claims that he doesn't have blood relatives and—"

I really hate her. She talks way too much. I pinned her with a murderous glare.

"Where—_is_—he?" I demanded.

**_:_:_**

They must be pretty desperate to take the blood of a seven-year-old. "I'm doing this for you," I told Midnight sullenly as I rolled back my sleeves. The victim was a very luck bastard to have the same genetic anomalies as I do.

"Thank you, young lady—or man—er, we'll just get right to it!"

I'm gender-confused myself so instead of correcting her, I grunted noncommittally. "Let's just get this over with." Midnight cast me a grateful look. Really, I'm also doing this for myself. I didn't want to endure another day with Cobra's gloating about my incompetence to finish a simple mission.

I hissed in pain as the needle pierced my skin. I squeezed my eyes shut and looked away, fighting the impulse to sock the doctor in the face for causing me so much pain. I heard him moving about, flipping on a machine. I didn't feel my blood leaving my body.

The pain had faded a long time ago, and I was getting sleepy.

Strange, how I was laying down here, giving my life-force to a complete stranger. I'm doing this for both Midnight and I and... I wondered who... the victim was...

I turned my head to my side; beneath the doctor's arm, I could see a spiky, pink-haired, pale-faced boy. Odd, he looked familiar but—I couldn't place where I had seen him before. There was a blue cat sniffling by his side—it was even more familiar. Something nagged at the back of my mind, this was funny, it kept insisting I knew them.

"Done!" The doctor's loud voice cut through the haze of sleepiness. He had already bandaged my arm to stop the blood flowing. "I think you should rest—"

What the doctor didn't know was this: Midnight was ruthless.

He seized my arm and forcefully pulled me off the bed. I swooned, light-headed and the world spinning around didn't help much either. "We're leaving. Where's the bonus you promised Wahrheit?" Midnight also made it a habit to call me by my real name like Brain did; I think he was just trying to emulate the dark-skinned man.

I giggled. He was so silly sometimes...

Midnight started pulling me along, ignoring the doctor's protests, and when I was unable to walk, Midnight lifted me off the ground and onto his back.

I assumed I fell asleep during the way back because I found myself waking up in the train, feeling only slightly better.

"Ugh, Midnight, I think I'm going to be sick—blargh!"

**_:_:_**

"What's your prayer?"

I looked up from where I was tracing the guild's insignia on the back of my palm. It had been a job well-done and Brain had not hesitated to give the insignia to us. From how Cobra was sulking, the insignia was working its magic.

Hah. Take that, Cobra!

"Huh?" Prayer? What the heck was he talking about? Brain could be weird sometimes.

Brain's smile was kind. I wondered how genuine it was. "Everyone has a prayer, their deepest wish. Don't you have one, too?"

I didn't want us to have those sort of 'moments' that people sometimes shared. I should not have snuck up onto the roof to enjoy the night sky. I was pretty sure Brain cheated by using his Archive magic to track down where I was. I didn't get the sudden question, though.

Training was progressing steadily and we had plenty of time to interact—in a teacher-student manner that was. Brain never struck me as the type to bond with his 'tools' but, eh, wasn't he Midnight's adoptive father?

I realized he was waiting expectantly for my answer.

I considered that, brows wrinkling into a frown. "I guess... I don't want to die." I pressed my tongue to the side of my cheek, deep in thought. "No, actually, I just... don't want to be alone. Cobra's annoying and Racer's an arrogant prat but I like you guys."

Brain looked mildly surprised. "I see," he muttered, his lips curling into a sneer and I narrowed my eyes. Then he seemed to remember I was watching and drew up his smile again, ruffling my hair.

Once he left, I returned to tracing the guild insignia I now bore.

Oración Seite. Prayer Seven.

"Huh. You're a manipulative jerk, Brain, but if we can be together always, I wouldn't mind," I murmured into the silence of the night, crossing my arms behind my back.

**_:_:_**

Years passed in the same routine: wake up, squabble at the table, train, play, go on quests, sleep. And many other hobbies in between.

Within a month, all of us bore the guild's insignia. The smile Brain gave us might've been similar to one a father might given to his child that did something particularly good. Despite that however, it wasn't until our third year that Brain finally allowed us to go on quests alone.

And a year more before the quests he gave us turned... darker. Well, I didn't notice it at first since he was being subtle: _Mars, this quest requires you to 'retrieve' this chest... Mars, will you please put pay to this guild that owes us? ...Mars, take this quest, it's to round the villagers up... Mars, find this boy and bring him back to the village..._

I always answered, "OK, Brain."

And the sort.

It wasn't until Brain told me to completely and utterly obliterate a minor guild that I realized these were the workings of a Dark Guild.

"Why?" I'd asked.

"To build a name for ourselves," answered Brain and I left it at that; there was a look in his eyes that warned me away from pursuing this topic any further.

The rest of the members were also given the same type of quests. I was slightly irked to learn that I was the last to receive such jobs and that Brain had the tendency to, in Cobra and Racer's words, baby me by giving me some simpler jobs in comparison to my older peers.

Not that I was complaining, it meant less work. Experience was one thing to become a great mage but training was also another important factor. And the only person I ever lost to was Racer who cheated by slowing us down to make him seem faster.

Naturally, we were often butting heads regardless of the age difference between us that indicated him to be the more mature of us. But that didn't mean we couldn't get along.

I was living a rather idyllic life and these supposedly fictional characters were becoming... more and more to me. They were real now, I sometimes reminded myself in the silence of my room, and they could die. But as much I struggled to keep holding onto those memories, pieces of what happened in the anime I forgot—it was quite like trying to hold onto water.

I just hoped that when that time comes, I could wing something to make sure we all live to see another day together.

**_:_:_**

Every Saturday, we would be required to report our progress to Brain. There must be an improvement. If, for a month straight that you made no progress, you would be sent to _that_ room.

I didn't know this until, one Sunday morning, I wandered into the dining room and found Angel absent. I was through my pancakes and was starting on my plate of sausages when I realized that everyone was tense and nervous.

"Where's Angel?" I asked, starting to have a bad feeling about it. Everyone had assumed expressions suitable for one to have at a dear friend's sickbed.

Cobra cleared his throat. "Well, Brain said he would punish her because she's... faring badly."

"She's strong," I asserted stubbornly.

"Tell that to Brain," muttered Racer under his breath. "She's been in there for two days." Right. I didn't know because I came back from a job yesterday.

"Don't bother trying to break her out," Midnight warned.

I snorted into my cereal. "Please, do I look like such a chivalrous hero?"

"You saved me," Midnight pointed out.

"Tch. I was just trying to kill Shane, don't be so self-important." Midnight said nothing in return to that and his expression made me feel a little bad for adopting such a harsh tone. If it was Midnight, I would've stabbed anyone in the back to save him. Before I could open my mouth to amend this, Angel staggered into the room.

We stared, blinked stupidly at one another and shot one another looks. Like, _check on her, Cobra_ and _no way, I'm not some pansy!_ and _what does pansies have to do with this?_ and beneath all those small squabbles, our eyes reflected a question not one dared to ask: is she okay?

Having enough of the silent communication that made no progress, I left my seat and scampered over to her, the only one who was willing to offer support when the boys just sat and glared at one another

"Where are you hurt?" I asked. It was a very smart question in comparison to ordinary "Are you okay?" that were common and stupid questions. If they obviously looked to be in so much pain, why the heck are you asking such a question? It was easier to ask where they were hurting.

Angel shook his head, not willing to divulge anything. "Z-Zero said not to tell you guys anything."

"Zero?" echoed Cobra, blinking.

Angel grimaced. "I said too much already. Anyways, I've got to go."

"But today's breakfast is your favorite," Hoteye put in. "Don't waste money, okay? Did you know how much—"

"Shut up, Hoteye," I snapped. But my voice wasn't the only one. Racer, Cobra and Midnight had snapped the same command; Hoteye scowled sullenly at us. "Aren't you hungry? Racer said you were in detention for two whole days." I winced when I said detention; made it sounds lesser than it seems when I knew it must've been vicious.

Angel did not stagger; she'd sweep around with formidable hauteur.

Angel shook her head. "I've got to get stronger."

"You're fourteen and you're stronger than those thrice your age already," I told her, in an effort to cheer her up. "What more does Brain want? He's asking for a miracle man."

Angel mustered a weak smile my way. I was surprised; she didn't usually smile, it was always a sneer for us "lesser beings" and I must say, it was a pleasant change. "I'll help you. You're a Celestial Sprit Wizard, so you'd need more Zodiac Gate keys to be considered strong?"

"I guess," muttered Angel. "Brain wasn't specific. I only have Caelum because I bought it, I got a useless Silver Key from a quest, and Brain gave me Gilgamesh."

I led her to the table. "So let's brainstorm. How do we prove that Angel's improved?"

Squabbling like usual, Racer and Cobra started the conversation, arguing about whose idea was the best; Hoteye and Midnight's heated debate turned into a race to cut across one another; I was eating without offering any ideas and I saw Angel doing the same: but, unnoticed by them, I saw how her lips curl into a tentative smile when her eyes flit each and every one of us.

I felt a trickle of warmth in my stomach. It took me awhile to register the feeling as contentment. Swallowing my food, I spoke, "Hey, have you ever heard of this famous Celestial Wizard Karen Lilica?"

**_:_:_**

"Really?" Cobra asked, unimpressed as I tied the letter to the owl's leg. "A letter of challenge? Why would she even bother to contend with kids?"

"I left that detail out," I said.

"And why are we here?" Cobra hissed, pinning me with a glare.

"To make sure Angel will be okay, duh," Racer answered, scoffing.

Hoteye had not joined on the account of being busy earning money; Midnight had been tasked to distract Brain in case our foster father didn't want us to go challenging wizards like gladiators. Honestly? I would've appreciated Hoteye's presence here. If Angel was overwhelmed, he could've usurped the ground around Karen to give our friend an advantage.

But Racer was an okay back-up, second to Hoteye. Cobra was here because he wanted to annoy us and he was superbly bored. If Angel lost and it was up to us to fight Karen, he could also get the chance to have fun so it was a win-win situation for him.

Re-energized by the brilliant idea—nothing could go wrong unless Angel lost—Angel threw herself into training and meditating to make sure she could summon two spirits at a time. She also sparred often with us and though there were no definite winner, I thought I could see some progress.

"She doesn't look like much," Racer muttered, appearing so suddenly beside me on the tree branch I nearly fell.

I elbowed him, glaring. "Make more noise next time!"

"I heard him, and," Cobra cocked his head to the side, "he's right, she's here, I could hear her footsteps."

"Should I be worried?" Angel wondered idly as Cobra and Racer tried to kill one another without budging.

"No," I answered. "I'm here, aren't I?"

Before she could answer, a loud branch snapped beneath what was undoubtedly a high-heeled shoe. We stiffened, exchanging glances. Angel's features hardened as she nodded subtly at us before she leaped down the tree.

I pushed branches out of the way, peering through the gaps between the leaves to examine Angel's opponent. I could see what Racer meant: Karen Lilica looked haggard and tired, irritated by Angel's presence.

"Are you kidding me?" The older mage's voice was filled with contempt. "You think a kid like you can challenge me—and _win_? Have you ever read Sorcerer's Magazine?"

"I do read it, if I hadn't, I would've have challenged you, would I?" I mentally congratulated Angel for her contumely tone to match Karen's. "I know you have the Zodiac Key Leo but I'm confident I can still beat you. Why don't you summon him from the get-go?"

Dimly, I wondered if Angel's confidence stemmed from the fact that we were watching her back. It was both a good and bad thing. It's good we were starting to bond and rely on one another, but... I bit my lip, if we get too dependent on one another, we wouldn't fare well at all.

Karen grounded her teeth together so loudly I thought I heard something crack. Cobra settled down beside me, watching avidly.

"When're they going to fight?" Racer hissed in my ear. "We could be doing something much productive."

"Then go," I snapped. "Don't bother me."

"She doesn't have him anymore," Cobra announced. ("Shh!") He turned to us, a bored expression on his face. "I came here thinking I can watch a ruthless battle but this is going to be so boring."

"Whaddya mean?" Racer asked curiously.

"That Leo spirit is on strike," answered Cobra calmly. "So she can't summon him for a fight."

"We mustn't celebrate yet," I told him, "Don't alert Angel or she might get overconfident. Karen's bound to have more than one spirit at her disposal and since she's a celebrated Celestial Wizard, I wouldn't put it past her to be able to summon another spirit."

"—if you refuse to start, then I shall. Whether you chose to take it or you can try and run," announced Angel, sneer crawling up her face on purpose to goad Karen to do battle; she was drawing Caelum's key out of her key holder. "**Open Gate of the Chisel! Caelum!**"

Mild surprise flitted across Karen's face: evidently, she had not expected Angel to be able to fight. "As I said before," continued Angel calmly. "If I win, you hand over your keys."

"Why, you little... fine, brat, fine! Mind you, we duel to kill." She whipped out a golden key. "

"Is she serious?" I muttered, disliking the arrogant witch with every passing second.

"Sounds serious," Cobra murmured back.

"Caelum," Angel barked, "Cannon form!"

"**Open Gate of the Ram! Aries!**" Karen cried.

"Should we be worried?" Racer wondered.

"No," I said, examining Aries with a critical eye. "She doesn't seem to be much."

"Yeah, Celestial Wizards aren't much," snorted Cobra, "even Mars would be able to defeat them."

"Thanks— hey! You asshole! How _dare_ you insult me?"

Karen shot our hiding spot a fleeting glance, attention instantly distracted when Angel fired Caelum. "Defend me, Aries!" Karen snarled.

"**Wool Wall!**" Angel looked mildly bemused at the pink wool that emerged from Aries' palms. But nevertheless, she acted accordingly, ordering Caelum to blast continuously, forcing Karen and Aries onto the defensive.

Cobra, Racer and I laughed ourselves sick at the names of Aries' technique, abandoning all pretense of stealth. "T-that's a Zodiac in action?" Cobra howled, barely holding onto the branch. Racer pounded his fist on the trunk, shoulders shaking in laughter.

I coughed, rubbing tears of mirth from my eyes. "Pfft, yeah." I sobered slightly. "But there're other Zodiac Spirits that're more dangerous, like Leo the Lion. Good thing Karen doesn't have it."

"**Open Gate of the Great Warrior! Gilgamesh!**" It was Angel. I was proud to see that she didn't even break a sweat at the dual summoning. "Kill them both!"

I nearly fell off the branch. "What did she say?" I cried.

Gilgamesh nodded; he had spiky blonde hair and eyes that seemed to be on fire. His golden armor was blindingly bright under the glare of the sun and in his hands, he held a zweihander. Yikes. One swing from that and someone'd be easily bisected. Gilgamesh had no qualms about charging into the wool.

I heard a shriek. "**Wool Bomb! **Mistress— Karen!"

"Damn it! **Open Gate of the Scorpion! Scorpio!**"

"No, Ma'am, you can't, you don't have the energy to—" Aries' words were drowned by her scream; the pink wool disappeared: Gilgamesh had ran Aries through. There was no remorse or even a flicker of emotion on Gilgamesh's face. Aries choked, gasping, and disappeared.

Karen staggered back.

"That's good," encouraged Angel. "Now, Gil, finish her off!"

"Darn, darn, darn— Open Gate of the—"

I hesitated: Gilgamesh advanced. I abandoned my hiding spot, darting towards the battlefield. "Angel!"

**TBC...**

* * *

**~X~**

* * *

**[A/N]:** _And_... Mars meet Natsu, however brief. Yes, Natsu will be aware of Mars' existence but doesn't know exactly how he looks like.

Current ages stand as such:

Mars - 9, Midnight - 13, Angel - 14, Cobra - 15, Racer - 16, Hoteye - 17.

**Question: Karen: live or die?**

**Review!**


	6. Chapter 6

******Hiro Mashima © Fairy Tail**

* * *

**Dragons Among Us**

**Chapter 5**

by GaleSynch

* * *

"Angel," I seized my guildmate's hand, tightening my grip briefly to get her attention because the look on her face seemed maniacal. "Stop him."

She looked upset and with great effort, turned to look down at me. "Why?" she demanded, lips pursed in a pout. _Man, she acts like she's younger than me... no, wait. Technically, she _is_ younger than me. Wait. How is that important in this situation?_

I grimaced. "There's no need for such ruthless pursuit, is there? You won!"

Angel snatched her hand out of my grip. "She was the one who wanted to duel to death!"

"She's not in her right mind," I reasoned, casting Karen a quick glance, "Come on, just take her keys and let's go."

Angel rolled her eyes, hands on her hips as she waved at Gilgamesh to hold on when the Celestial Spirit glanced back. Karen was backed up against the tree; eyes wide with fear when she saw the rest of us. "And how do you propose we break the contact between her and her spirits? Taking the keys doesn't mean the contract is over, y'know."

"I don't," I pointed out, "since I'm not a Celestial Wizard or whatever you call yourselves. Just make her break it or something."

"I'm taking the 'or something' choice, Mars," snapped Angel, eyes flaring dangerously. "Death breaks the contract."

Deciding that talking to Angel was a lost cause, I stalked over to Karen, shoving Gilgamesh out of the way and seized her key holder.

"Give it back!" she screamed.

"Mars, what on earth are you—"

I seized the Silver Key, not recognizing what spirit responded to this key. "Stop!" Karen screamed, realizing my intentions.

"Shut up," I muttered to her out of the corner of my mouth. "If you want to live, that is." I snapped the Key in half, watching as it shimmered, disappearing. "It'd reappear somewhere, right, Angel?"

Angel let out a low groan. "Oh for the love of—damn it, hand the keys to me." She eyed the keys critically. "Tut. She has the Lion Zodiac, I know it. There's also Gemini... Scorpion... and Pyxis." She squinted at the ground where the broken Silver key was. "Agh, damn it, Mars! You broke the Teleporting Spirit!"

"My knowledge in that field is very limited," I admitted sheepishly.

"That Leo dude is on strike," Cobra spoke lazily, tickling Cubellios' underbelly.

"Thanks Cobra," I said quickly. "Anyway, do you want to lose the opportunity to gain Leo? If she dies while he's on strike, he'd be blamed and exiled. Which means he won't be an effective Spirit anymore, just one that's bound to fade as time goes by."

Angel glared at me, obviously weighing her options: her two primal instincts warring against one another. On one hand, her sadism needed to be satisfied. On the other hand, she wanted the key badly. "Fine," she grumbled, shooting Karen a filthy look. "I'll get rid of this filth that taints the world once I get that key!"

"She's being more dramatic than usual," muttered Racer. Angel shot him a furious glare; I couldn't see his expression because of his sunglasses but I imagined him rolling his eyes.

Cobra placed a hand on my shoulder and tugged me away, ignoring Karen's screams as Angel seized her by the hair and started dragging her to who-knows-where. Before I could protest, Racer seized my other arm and hauled me off as well. "Hey!" I cried.

"You don't want to see this," Cobra said, "Midnight'd throttle us if we let you witness such a brutal scene."

"Brutal? How do you know that it'd be—?" Then it clicked. I swallowed. "Angel... she did this before?"

"Hoteye told us," Racer confirmed, shrugging his shoulders. "He was her partner, 'member? She's damn sadistic. Speaking of which..." He raised his voice. "Oi! Angel, meet us in the town up north when you're done, OK?"

I didn't hear her reply but I assumed she had answered with an affirmative since Racer turned away and prepared to run: his muscles tensed.

"Come on," urged Racer, and gripping Cobra and my hand in each, he took off.

I don't recommend using Racer as a ride unless you a) like speed, b) want to save time, c) like to experience the thrill and d) have your lifespan cut short from the excitement.

In other words: I fucking loved it!

"Again, 'gain!" I said, completely forgetting Karen.

Cobra had other words for it: he was cussing violently since Racer had unceremoniously dumped him onto the ground while I was being held like a football. "What the fuck are we doing here again? Why can't we go back first? 'S not like Angel can't take care of herself," he complained, glancing around the small town. It was a quaint place: cobbled path, brick-buildings roofed all in red, flower vases here and there; the people living in it were mostly old, I had yet to see a child, and they glanced curiously at us.

"Why don't we have some fun?" suggested Racer, grinning.

I glanced at him warily. "What? Go to the arcades?" I sniped, voice caustic. "This is not a technologically advanced place."

"What the fuck is that?"

I sighed at Cobra's question. "Never-fucking-mind."

"I meant this," interjected Racer before Cobra and I could try to kill one another. I turned just as Racer disappeared in a buzz. That was when the screams erupted from all sides of me.

I tensed, slipping into a defensive stance. "Who did that?" I cried.

"That would be Racer," grunted Cobra, Cubellios unfurling around his arm.

I sidestepped as a middle-aged man barreled past me. "This," I gestured wildly to the destruction taking place around me, "is his idea of fun?" I was appalled.

"This ain't the first time, kid," Cobra snapped impatiently. "You can either stand there and gape or you can help." I blinked and he slung an arm around my shoulder, grinning lazily. "Come on, Brain did ask us to create a name for ourselves. This is the best way! And your ability to explode things you touch is handy."

I bit my lip. "I'm sort of against killing. Why do you think I tried to stop Angel?"

"How honorable of you," sneered Cobra. "Treat this as training. I'm gonna have fun. This time, I'm goin' to beat Racer."

"In what exactly, might I ask?"

"See how many people I can kill. We're not letting him win again, are we, Cube?" And with that shocking information, Cobra dove into the chaos. I staggered back as the wave of villagers shoved me into the alleyway—all desperate to escape to safety.

Perhaps I had always been curious, perhaps it was the shock: my palm rested flat on the brick wall, already imprinting my magic into it.

_This is just training_, I told myself,_ like Cobra said. I could destroy a tree, could I bomb this whole building down?_

Fortunately, I had the sense to get out of the alleyway before the building exploded into debris, showering down on the villagers: if possible, the volume of their screams doubled but I could not access the damage as smoke clouded my vision. I channeled the coiling energy within my Eternano, drawing it out and unleashed it in a wave of darkness, driving the cloud of smoke away.

In lieu of my affinity, I had decided to adopt Brain's style of fighting. Rather, his magic.

Which meant, unfortunately, that I spent more time with him than the rest of my guild-mates.

I pulled my hand back, fingers curled, as I channeled my magic into imagination: shards of black energy materialized. I curled my fingers into a fist: the shards shot forward, without aim, exploding with magical energy when they collided with anything solid.

I thought I hit a woman but I couldn't be sure. Before I could take a step forward, a hail of needle struck my path, halting me in place. I was nonplussed; there were mages in this area? Licking my lips in anticipation, I raised my head to see who had so rudely interrupted me.

I vaguely recognized her but couldn't be utterly sure.

Her brows were pulled together as she adjusted her glasses, glancing down at me with a superior smirk. "To be honest, when I saw the level of destruction, I had not expected a child to be responsible."

"I'm not a child!" I cried.

"Run along _child,_" she snorted, putting extra emphasis on the last word.

"Shut up, hag," I snapped back. "I'm busy if you can't tell: get out of the way." I eyed her attire critically; something tugged at me—a memory—telling me that I should know her. I tilted my head when I saw the familiar guild insignia on her breast. "Fairy Tail? Fly away home, fairy, before you make me tear your wings off."

Her glasses flashed angrily. "You little—**Fairy Machine Gun: Leprechaun!**" She waved her arms: energy needles materialized and in the mocking imitation of my earlier attack, she sent them flying at me.

"**Dark Barrier**," I countered, enveloping my body in a thin, pink energy. Sadly, that seemed to be the color of my magical energy; Cobra snorted every time he saw it, much to my chagrin. Her needles clattered noisily when it impacted but faded to dust when it failed to scratch me.

She looked mildly surprised that I managed to block it. "Not bad, kid, not bad at all."

My body thrummed with adrenalin: I was starting to enjoy this. "**Dark Delete!**" I flung the dark spheres at her. She yelped but dodged: her wings spreading from behind her back and she took off. The spheres missed and impacted against buildings; I just had caught a glimpse of a child's face pressed against the window before the building crumbled.

The Fairy Tail mage stared at me in horror. "That's murder, you brat!" Something in her eyes behind the glasses changed; she was starting to take me seriously. "**Fairy Bomb: Gremlin!**" Dust particles materialized, surrounding me.

Crap.

Then it exploded.

I yelped as I flew through the air, landing on my behind, head connecting painfully with the cobbled street—good thing I hadn't deactivate the barrier. I spat dust out of my mouth and staggered to my feet. "**Dark Delete**!" I missed completely with the way she fluttered about like a fairy. "Fine, then."

I bent my knees and jumped—shooting straight at her, a feat that would've been impossible if I had been in my old body but the physical training Brain put me through was practically inhuman. She looked startled and twisted. Suddenly, I was extremely grateful towards Brain who put us through grueling physical training that drove us into the ground, sore and achy. My fingers grazed her arm. "**Explode**!" I landed on the cobbled street again.

She screamed in pain. I stalked towards her trembling form and, without further ado, knocked her out by kicking her into the nearest building.

"Oi, Mars!" It was Cobra; I turned to see him waving at me. He caught with me, eyes studying the scene. "So Mr I-Don't-Kill Mars ended up playing our game anyway. Did you fight a mage?"

"A Fairy Tail mage. I got her though," I added hastily when Cobra looked around. "But I don't think she's alone."

"Nope, she's not alone," Cobra agreed. "Racer took one out—some Rune user—and I got landed with this freaky guy who can control puppets—I won without breaking a sweat of course. There's this lightning mage as well but Racer led him away for some fun. Come on, let's go home before the lightning guy comes back. The council's also moving in. Angel'd know better than to stay here once she sees the Council."

"Right," I said, feeling mildly panicked at the thought of being caught.

"Oh yeah, I wanna show you my artwork," he crowed. I blinked; Cobra did not have an artistic bone in his body, the one who excelled in that particular area was me.

"Oh?" I prompted, following him. "Where is it?"

"There, on the village square." He pointed downwards and I glanced down.

"This is not art," I mumbled, frowning at the sloppy imitation of our guild insignia. It was written in Japanese characters: the letter seven and the demon beside it. Cobra's writing was like a chicken's scrawl: our guild's name was written with what seemed to be blood.

"Whatever, let's go get Angel and get the hell out of here."

**:: :: ::**

Brain didn't seem to mind that we went home to our castle covered in dust. But Midnight noticed and wasted no time asking, "What happened to you three?"

"Demolished a town," I answered, "probably got a lot of people killed and we went fairy-hunting. Where's Racer? Is he back yet?"

"No," said Midnight slowly, "but he's fine. Dad'd have a litter of kittens if Racer's defeated and no doubt, he'd send us searching for that guy." His brows knitted together when he registered my earlier statement. "You encountered Fairy Tail?"

"It was no problem," said Cobra, slouching away.

"What about you?" Midnight turned to Angel, brow arched at the sight of blood on her front. She'd arrived mere minutes after us, which made me wonder how Racer was faring.

I'd avoided looking at her, the hypocrite that I was. The kid who was in the building was probably dead. At least I didn't torture the brat, Angel obviously desecrated Karen's corpse or she had fun hearing the older woman scream before her death.

"I got the keys I wanted," chirped Angel, holding out her key holder which had a significant amount of keys more than before. In spite of myself, I turned to look at her.

"...You have the... _Lion's_ key?" I yelled, thrown for a loop.

Unexpectedly, Angel flung her arms around me and pecked my cheek. I blushed. Midnight arched a brow. At least I knew he wouldn't be a tease. Though knowing my luck, Cobra heard what happened.

"It's amusing, really," Angel laughed lightly, straightening again as I tried to flap the heat from my cheeks. "Even though she abused him enough for him to go on strike, he was willing to do anything for her. It was a disgusting live soap opera—just like the one Hoteye made us watch—"

"That's why he doesn't get to choose the movies we watch on movie night," Midnight pointed out. Never mind that no one really enjoyed the horror shows he let us watch: coupled with special effects his magic offered.

"I forced them to break the contract—I hope once Leo recovers in the Spirit Realm, he'll be as strong as before because I had little trouble in defeating him or maybe it's because I had Gil throttling Karen but that's not important—and now he'd made a contract with me!"

"Reluctantly, I bet," I muttered.

Midnight did not looked impressed. "Oh, good," I wondered if that was sarcasm.

Angel glared at him before stalking off, nose in air; probably to report to Brain.

I sidled away when I saw Midnight busy glaring at Angel's back—who was making very rude hand signs back at him. I felt drained. Now that I was alone, I could finally be my self.

I exhaled shakily as I made my way to my room, quite shaken. It bothered me how I didn't feel the slightest bit of guilt about that town's destruction: I was more irked about how long it took to defeat that Fairy Tail mage which was about seven to ten minutes. Shit. Years spent with Brain was starting to take its toll on my moral fiber. But that was just the part of it.

A part of me had always—still—thought that this was a fictional world.

To me, no real deaths occurred when it wasn't shown on screen-time or confirmed. That part of me refused to believe that the kid and the villagers were dead.

They probably survived.

_'Course they did!_

How the hell did the Council knew we were there if they didn't run and blab?

With that comforting thought in mind, I slumped onto my bed and fell asleep even before my head hit the pillow.

**:: :: ::**

"Tatarus? Grimoire Hearts?" I repeated the names of the Dark Guilds Brain had told us about. I felt a smirk crawling up my face. "Gotta say, Oración Siete sounds much better."

"It's bound to make people underestimate us or have them quaking in their boots," Racer observed, tapping his fingers repeatedly on the table where we were all seated at. I wished he would stop. However, since Midnight was sitting between us, I couldn't hit him without flinging the black-haired boy out of the way which would just piss him off or downright impossible because of his Reflector magic. "There's only seven of us. We're like, the smallest guild in history."

"But one of the strongest," bragged Cobra. "And if any asshole dares to underestimate us, I'm going to prove to them that—"

Brain cleared his throat significantly, turning our attention to him. "Cobra, being recognized as the strongest is merely a bonus. Our true goal is Nirvana. I hope none of you have forgotten."

Right. We knew that a few years back. But despite that, Brain never let us help in his researched; not that I wanted to help. I just found it odd and I wondered how much he trusted us.

"We haven't," we chorused back and Brain nodded, satisfied.

Today was one of the rare days that Brain joined us at the dining table: I was used to seeing him holing up in his office or out on some personal mission. Naturally, conversation around the table was less candor; by now, typical breakfast brawling had already occurred, we would've been hurling insults at one another and flipping the middle finger.

Something that would escalate into a full-out fight during sparring session.

The one time we broke the glass table (not a smart move to place it there in the first place, Brainiac) with our brawling, Brain had been furious, calling us a bunch of "hooligans" and withheld dinner from us, plus cutting short our sleeping and free time for three weeks straight.

Brain didn't usually punish us in a physical way: Angel was an exception but she refused to elaborate what had happened to her in That Room. He just gave us detention or took away privileges and increased training time (which was the equivalent of torture).

"So, Dad, why're you here this morning?"

Approximately seventeen months before, Brain had allowed us to call him "dad" or "father" or any other names that recognized him as our dad.

I was hesitant about calling him Dad or any term of endearments. Midnight had no such qualms and since there was no evil backlash, Angel and I had occasionally addressed Brain as such. Cobra and Racer insisted on calling him by name; Hoteye alternated between terms of endearments and professional behavior where he referred to Brain as "Boss". He was weird like that.

Brain arched an amused brow at Hoteye's question. "Is it wrong to eat here?"

"No," I said slowly before Hoteye could get into anymore trouble. "It's a rare occasion."

"Wahrheit—"

"Mars," I interjected and ignored Midnight's scandalized look. He truly idolized Brain. I hoped he'd be disillusioned sometime soon.

Brain continued as if I hadn't spoken. "—I saw your artwork. You're quite the talented artist, aren't you?"

"Thanks," I said even though I suspected he was being sarcastic.

"Why don't you make your hobby more useful?" he suggested casually.

I frowned. "You want me to stop drawing?"

Brain waved his hand dismissively. "I said no such thing. I meant learning Pict Magic."

My eyebrow twitched. "Is it really OK to learn so many magic types? I'm gonna have to change my schedule for that."

"Incorporating Pict Magic into your drawing is no taxing task, there is no need to change your schedule, Mars. You can learn in your spare time. I'd give you the guidebook later."

Ah. This guy: always the opportunist. Among the six kids, I was the only one who had a relatively normal hobby. Aside form Midnight who slept in his spare time otherwise he'd go cruising on his magic carpet—sometimes doing both but I'd be there to keep him from falling off.

Hoteye's hobby was earning money and to do so, he took up a new job, a trader—I was baffled at first and had insisted on tagging along once and he made me "carry" items to black markets—who was quite infamous in the underworld. Cobra was off doing who-knows-what with Cubellios, Racer jogged, and Angel liked... dreaming of a clean and pure world.

Brain probably wanted me to do something more productive. Right, like Angel's and Cobra's hobbies were anything remotely useful.

"Cobra," said Brain, diverting his attention to the boy who sat opposite of me. "How're you faring? No negative reactions to the Lacrima, I hope."

All in all, breakfast lasted longer than necessary and we were rather relieved that we could leave since Brain could lecture us for about three hours consecutively (without needing water to replenish himself).

"Honestly," I sighed, rubbing the back of my neck, "we could almost pass for a normal family."

"We are," pointed out Midnight. I glanced at him, surprised. "Just a little dysfunctional."

"I think you meant very," Angel scoffed, rolling her eyes.

In companionable silence, we sauntered down the hall.

**:: :: ::**

I sucked at drawing animals. I meant to draw a cat but it came out as a dog instead. I prodded moodily at the mildly deformed puppy.

"Um, young lady—sorry, sir?" I looked up at the timid voice. "Sorry if I offended you," the waitress murmured, blushing furiously. "I mean, I can't tell at all!"

I laughed. "Keep guessing! I won't tell ya!"

She smiled more genuinely. "So, young lady, would you like a saucer of milk for your dog?"

I waved my hand dismissively. "This isn't real. It's just a result of Pict Magic."

Her blue eyes lit up. "You're a mage? At such a young age?"

"I'm _ten_, that's not very young at all, is it?" I said, mildly annoyed.

"Can I play with it?" she asked.

I sighed. "Go ahead," I said, turning back to my sketchbook. I turned to another page, coming across my sketch of Racer. I didn't apply magic to that one: imagine the world with two Racers, the horror of it all. I was not that cruel to inflict the world with such an ailment. Racer was a disease—and come to think of it, Cobra as well—or tease who wouldn't let an opportunity to embarrass me slip by.

On seventh birthday, he gifted me with a unicorn-patterned backpack. Eventually, everyone was put under the impression I was obsessed with unicorns and started buying unicorn-themed souvenirs for me. Please note that this was not done out of the kindness of their hearts; they were trying to draw on my ire.

I played it cool even though I wanted to punch the smug smirk on Racer's face off. Reacting meant giving him power. Besides, I was the live and let live kind of guy. So I accepted their gifts with a gracious attitude.

If not giving them anything in return counted as gracious.

"Hey, kid!"

Dragged from my train of thoughts again, I glanced at the source of noise. No doubt they were addressing me since I was the only child in this cafe. Boy, am I popular with the girls today, I noted sarcastically as I gazed at the red-hooded girl.

She seemed to be a teenager, sixteen at most, with black hair and green eyes. She greeted me with a cheery grin, her teeth glinting beneath the sun. "Yeah, like, you," she said happily, sauntering towards me and before I could say anything, she snatched up my sketchbook.

I scowled at her. "Oi."

"You're good and—pardon me—I couldn't help but—"

"Bet you could," I grumbled moodily.

"—overhear that you can use Pict Magic. Wanna join the Red Hood guild?"

In the blink of an eye, I was hauled off by the exuberant girl who introduced herself as Lily Foster. I didn't bother putting up a fight as she hauled me to her guild.

"Guys!" she announced excitedly the moment we stepped in. "I found us a new recruit!"

I took in the guild with a critical eye: they didn't have much of a presence so I doubted they were particularly powerful. Red Hood guild members lived up to its name: all the members donned on red hoods. There were a large number of males but I spotted a scatter of girls here and there.

They crowded forward to look at me.

"He's very good with Pict Magic and at such a age—"

"Hold it, lady," I cut in, voice loud to ensure I had their attention. "I'm already part of a guild."

"Eh? Which one?" Lily Foster was pouting.

"Oración Siete," I announced proudly.

A guy grunted. "Isn't that a Dark Guild that's been causing mayhem in a few small towns?"

"Oh yeah," piped up a young boy in his teens. "I heard three members took down the Fairy Tail mages and destroyed the whole town. The villagers—"

"Yeah, that's my guild," I cut across him before he could announced how many people survived. I could live without knowing.

There was a collective outbreak of snorts. "Kid, no way."

I felt my eyebrow twitching in annoyance. "Then do you want me to kick your asses and prove it to you who's superior?"

"Hey now," Lily said, sounding somewhat nervous, "Kids have huge imaginations. And it's exactly what our guild needs in our new recruits!"

"It's bound to be the other way around, you'll see," I said. "Either you submit to my guild—Oración Siete—or you will learn that obliteration means."

About half of them started laughing.

I lost it.

"**Zero Slash!**" I said angrily, feeling my magic swirling like a violent turbulence in response to my emotion. I reached out and my hand closed around my magical energy. I heard yelps of shock but I did not cease. I swung my arm, the magical whip following the path I directed it to.

The whip caught the bodies of the red-hooded mages and and flung them into the wall. It gave away, crumbling on them, but I wasn't too worried about them being dead. Mages were considerably more durable than ordinary humans.

Only Lily, who had been standing a few steps behind me, was unscathed. I turned to her, frown setting deep onto my face. "What? You're going to try attacking me too?"

She made a strangled sound. "You weren't lying?" she squeaked and I could detect a hint of terror in her voice. "You took them down with one strike..."

No one had stirred yet.

"Who's your guild master? Bring him or her forth, I wish to discuss something." I gave her a once-over. "I'd give you credit for leading me here. Oración Siete needed more underlings anyway. Well, Foster?" I demanded impatiently when she gaped at me, mouth opened.

She spluttered for a moment before mumbling, "We don't have one. We're rather small, being only seventy in numbers. We're planing on holding a vote after we achieved the hundred-member mark."

"It's obvious who's the strongest in this building, isn't it?" I asked, eyes softening to stop her from quivering so much. "Inform these guys you already have a guild master: me."

"W-what would you want us to do?" Lily asked, baffled, as I strode out.

"Spread word about Oración Siete. That's all. I'd come check on you guys when I'm free. So, take care of things, 'kay?"

**:: :: ::**

"They swore eternal allegiance?" Brain asked skeptically.

"As long as we're not dissolved," I reminded him, sniffing at his skeptical tone. That was insulting. "Then they'll be our underlings for ever."

"Good job," said Brain smoothly, "We have about twelve Dark guilds beneath us now. But we need to conquer more. I'm leaving that to you."

I looked around, hoping that one of the other kids would be responsible. My heart sank when I realized everyone was staring at me. "What? _Me_? Going against Dark Guilds by myself?"

"You'll be fine," Brain said dismissively. "Angel and Cobra, the both of you are in charge of gathering intel and spreading our fame."

"Bring a large basket, Cobra, you'd need it," I sniped, sneering, unable to let this chance go.

"Fuck you!"

"Pipe down," snapped Brain. "Hoteye, Racer and Mars are responsible for the Dark Guilds and the treasury."

"What about him?" Racer asked, jerking his head at Midnight.

"He'd be assisting me with experiments," Brain answered shortly and did not elaborated. I glanced at Midnight to see his reaction but his face was impassive as ever.

I wondered if he'd be all right, being stuck with Brain and all.

**:: :: ::**

* * *

**[A/N]: **More of a filler chapter than anything. But this introduces to you Mars'... um, self-delusional attitude. It's not too obvious, just in situations like these. I was watching Fairy Tail episodes again and in one episode's preview, Happy commented about how Natsu liked living in self-delusion: so the brothers share some traits, you see.

The next chapter will end the intro arc.

Updated: 15/9/2014

Beta: None.

**Question: Wanna see any romance? If so, with whom?**

**Review!**


	7. Chapter 7

**Hiro Mashima © Fairy Tail**

* * *

**Dragons Among Us**

**Chapter 6**

by GaleSynch

* * *

"Hold your hand closer to you, Mars," Brain advised.

I narrowed my eyes sharply upon his form, but eventually gave up on glaring at him as I needed all the concentration "Trust me, calling the guild Oración Siete when you only have six members is stupid."

"It is a stupid name already!" piped up a voice that was neither Brain's nor mine. I rolled my eyes at Brain's pestiferous staff. I could channel Dark Magic without a medium and he couldn't? Brain's life was pretty sad if his best friend was that staff. "I'm a member of this guild as well! It should be Oraci—"

"What's the point of holding this closer? It's dangerous, _Dad,_" I stressed the last word to draw on some empathy even as I held the swirling dark sphere closer to my face. It was as if I was standing in a valley of wind. Today was one of the days I dreaded the most since I had to train my "dimension tearing" ability.

Brain summed the ability up as "feeding pesky enemies to a monster in the other dimension"; it was an odd allegory but Brain was an odd man. Adding that this was a dangerous power did not help me feel relax or particularly happy about this ability.

Brain tutted. "Mars, how are you ever going to master this if you're scared of it?" I opened my mouth to rebuke but Brain ploughed on, "If you resent your magic, it won't ever respond to you."

"Oh, it does," I muttered, "whenever I'm angry, I always make things disappear."

"Which includes a treasure chest overflowing with gold, a bookshelf, the refrigerator, a couch and—" We could've stood there all night and he wouldn't finish.

"I get it, I get it," I cut in loudly, keeping a close eye on the open "mouth"—the magic circle that usually accompanied magic was streaming in ineligible patterns, reminding me of a revolving globe. I cut my eyes to the grandfather clock behind Brain's desk.

Three more minutes before this torture was over.

Brain always seemed less-than-impress at my progress with my ability and the only reason he hadn't set Zero on me was because of the Organic Link Magic that sealed Zero away.

"Hold still," warned Brain, showing the small pebble he was holding. "Don't flinch and don't panic: it's not going to hit you."

I barely stopped myself from jumping back; as it was, I seized my forearm to stop myself from backing away as Brain threw the pebble. It disappeared with a static sound into the darkness.

The stones he threw grew larger in size and I was growing increasingly weary of staying in the same spot and materializing the gateway for such a long time. Fifteen had passed since I was supposed to be let off for the rest of the day.

Then Brain did something that I could never forget.

"**Dark Capriccio!**" A beam of darkness from Klodoa's mouth pierced through the small distance between us. Startled, I thrust my hand forward. The sphere I was holding onto pulsed with magical energy: hungrily consuming Brain's attack.

I was pushed back from the sheer force of it despite not coming in contact with the dangerous magic. I'd worn the red carpet in Brain's office (which, admittedly, wasn't an ideal place to practice such dangerous magic in) but instead of being angry, Brain looked contemplating.

"I'm dismissing myself," I told him, breathless, realizing belatedly I was sweating cold sweat from his sudden, unexpected action.

Was I that easy to scare?

Brain nodded absentmindedly, still looking thoughtful.

"Um, Brain?" I said, drawing his attention. "If I hadn't been able to absorb that attack, what would've happened?"

He smiled sardonically. "Then you wouldn't be standing there, would you?"

I left the room so quickly I might've been running: not looking properly, I slammed right into someone. I inhaled his scent before I could see him, muscles uncoiling; I'd ran into Midnight.

"What happened in there?" he asked, pushing me away to inspect me. "You look unharmed, if a little shaken." A little was an understatement.

"Nearly died," I mumbled, swiping a hand over my eyes when I heard my teary voice.

"No mage masters their magic in a few years—"

"Brain's the one who fired an attack that could've killed me," I interrupted wearily. Midnight stiffened and I could imagine his eyes widening.

He was silent for a moment, then, tentatively, he said, "Maybe Dad already knew you'd—"

I snapped. "Yeah, keep on defending your dad! He can do no wrong in your eyes, huh?" I stormed off, ignoring Midnight's call.

Fuming, I marched into the basement where Hoteye and I would occasionally convene to discuss the minor Dark Guilds we were managing. I had been hoping for some time alone but Hoteye was there; he threw me a curious glance but otherwise said nothing as he went rattling away on his calculator, muttering and jotting down important bits down.

Hoteye knew me quite well: approximately thirty minutes later, I cooled down enough to be reasonable. Which was when he spoke up. "Mars, someone's been eliminating Dark Guilds affiliated with us."

Of course. Bad news.

I glanced up sharply, eyebrow twitching in annoyance. Stress, annoyance and genocidal urges came with the job description, unfortunately. Of course, the Legal "Light" Guilds would eliminate those Dark Guilds. Those annoying pests. Tsk. "Which guild?" I asked.

"Eisenwald, Dark Riders, Black Moon, etc. I heard Fairy Tail had a hand in it."

I groaned, slapping a hand to my forehead. Many a times, I was very tempted to storm into Fairy Tail and try to murder every single Light Mage that got in our way. I had a bit of a blind spot where they were concerned: without them, our world would end. At the hands of Tatarus.

"Those fucking Fairies," I grouched. Just what I needed: more events to darken my mood. "Why can't Brain enlist Grimoire Heart and Tartarus to get rid of them? Actually, the seven of us could just storm in and take them down!"

"Mars, that's not important, OK? It's the money! Our expenses—how are they going to pay their tribute to us if they're disbanded? Eisenwald supplies drugs Brain uses in his experiments and I have half a mind to implore him not to waste so much money on some crackpot theory that wouldn't even—"

I burst out laughing, surprising Hoteye that he fell silent. "Ah, thanks, that's just what I needed."

Hoteye beamed. "Does that mean you'll reward me? I demand one million Jewels!"

I smiled sarcastically. "Oh, sure. Does that mean you'll pay me for the number of times that I recruited Dark Guilds?"

"Which are being dissolved and members arrested right under our nose."

My smile diminished. He got me there and he knew it. "I better go check on the rest of them, then."

"Before you leave," I sighed, Hoteye was always looking for a way to pile everything on me while he dealt with his illegal tradings, "Can you hunt this man down for me? He owes me quite a sum."

I took the slip of paper, gazing at the picture, brows arched at the odd-looking man. Black Afro hair, cocoa-colored skin, overly large ears, yellow teeth and a face resembling a monkeys: he was probably in his thirties or something. Shrugging, I folded the paper and stuffed it down my pocket.

"That's Zato of Naked Mummy, that guild hasn't paid its tribute to us by the way."

I waved him away. "I'm well-aware. I'd look for him then."

"Mars—"

I turned, scowling. "What? I'm busy."

Hoteye seemed to want to say something but eventually turned away and waved me away, irritating me to no end. I stomped flat-footed out of the castle.

However, I was intercepted before I could even leave. This thing was not what I was expecting. I arched a brow. "Klodoa? What the heck are you doing here?"

"Brain asked me to check up on you! Oi, come back—where are you going?!" Klodoa hopped after me. I was tempted to break him in half but I doubted Brain would be impressed.

I just hope I would be able to shake him off once I left.

**:: :: ::**

Being a little kid could be useful, people were more willing to divulge information and for those who were reluctant, you'd be surprised by what a pouch with Jewels could do. I tracked Zato down to a rather run-down village. My temper at having to deal with idiots on the way was reaching its zenith. coupled with the fact that I was tired from a day of non-stop travel.

So, understandably, when Zato disbelieved the fact I was a member of Oración Siete and proceeded to insult me by calling me, "Pipsqueak," I lost it.

Zato screeched in fear as I advanced on him; my temper ran away with my control over my affinity magic. Temporarily named Gluttony, it was currently living up to its name by opening small portals and devouring furniture and applications.

The spot close to his hand disappeared with a static buzz. He cowered in fear. "Please don't kill me!" he shrilled. "I have a wife and two kids!"

I snorted, in spite of myself. "Yeah, right," Klodoa piped up, nearly shocking Zato out of his Afro hair. "Everyone has a wife and two kids in situations like these."

Too true. I would've been more sympathetic had I not been fooled by it before. Hoteye berated me and smacked me upside the head when he found out, but fortunately, did not report to Brain about this. "Look, I didn't come here to listen to your sob-story. I came here for money—cold, hard cash!"

He whimpered, looking around for an exit.

"I... I don't—"

I crushed his twitching fingers with my boot. He had been trying to reach for his gun. Zato was particularly troublesome to crack. He only spilled the location of his treasury when I threatened his manhood.

I left in the dead of the night, leaving Zato a mess of bruises, broken bones and golden teeth scattered across the floor of his living room. Well, I assumed the house was his. I was sorely tempted to rest there but I was a heavy sleeper so if he decided to tie me up and do something, I wouldn't be aware of it until it was too late.

You would think Klodoa would fit right in. But I did not trust Klodoa with my laundry, much less my life.

I decided that I could make a stop at the nearest guild associated with my guild to sleep.

The sun was descending, I could faintly make out the moon. As this body was a kid's, I needed more sleep than my older guild-mates.

Which makes me wonder why they always send me the most troublesome jobs that needed a lot of traveling.

Just when I thought my day couldn't get any worse, it did. Rain started falling, I glanced up to see the clouds gathered in a dark, heavy mass and let out a small groan, quickening my pace.

Chaos Nest was a Dark Guild located in the outskirts of town, partially concealed by the forest. It was a fine building but I wasn't even thirty feet close to it to know that it was no longer a fine building.

"Hey!" Klodoa shrieked angrily, having seen the four figures before I did. I pushed my soaked fringe from my eyes to see better. "Oi! Mars, get over to those numskulls and beat some sense into them!"

Klodoa's screechy voice drew their attention and my eyes were wide by the time I registered who they were exactly. There was only one woman among them: pale-skinned, sad blue eyes and curled up blue hair, she was easily distinguishable. And so was the large man with bandaged eyes and tan skin behind her. The only one remotely normal looking was the dual-haired man, a katana strapped to his back, tattoo of a bar across his nose; okay, so maybe he wasn't so normal. The last member was a green-haired man with a swaying, too-thin body.

"Element 4 of the Phantom Lord Guild," I grumbled. "Great."

"Ah," wailed the large man. "It's such a sad day!"

"Who're you?" asked the woman.

"What have you done to the guild?" I snarled angrily, gesturing to the destroyed building.

"This is a Dark Guild," answered the black-white-haired man, arms crossed over his chest. "It has to be destroyed." He turned his nose on me. "Why would you care?"

"That guild was under me," I hissed.

"A child like you? _Non non non_!" the green-haired man piped up, voice thick with a French accent, adjusting his monocle. "Impossible! Toddle home now, Mademoiselle."

"You wanna die?!" I shouted, losing my temper completely. "I'm not a little miss!"

He disappeared, reappearing beside me, body swaying back and forth. "Now, now, Mademoiselle, there's no need to lose that lid on your temper—"

I slapped my hand against his thin torso. "Get away from me—**Explode!**" He squealed in pain, I noticed that the blast sent him flying away and his feet was detached from the ground.

"Monsieur Sol!" the woman cried. Her eyes narrowed upon me. "**Water Slicer!**" She waved her hand and from that action, magic circles burst into existence: slices of water shaped like scythes flying at me.

"**Blue Fire!**"

"Klodoa, get ready! **Dark Cappriccio**!"

The beam of energy I released was considerably stronger than what I was used to. It broke through the combined attacks. I see, I was pushed back slightly from the sheer force of Klodoa's attack. So this was why Brain had insisted on using Klodoa. I gripped the staff and swung it, Dark Cappriccio flowing with the attack: I caught the fire-mage in his chest and with a yell of pain, he went flying into the forest.

"This is lamentable!" I jumped at the wail coming from behind me.

"Gluttony!" I cried without conscious thought. I turned at the continuous scream of pain: my attacks had no lasting effects mind you. I didn't see what was wrong at first but Klodoa let out an appreciative whistle.

"You took a chunk of his arm off!" Klodoa crowed. "Lord knows he needs the extra-fat off him!" He cackled evilly.

I could see his bone, from where my magic had activated instinctively and devoured whatever part it could touch to protect me. Suddenly, I was very grateful towards Brain for training me for this.

I whirled back to see the woman's attack. "**Water Whip!**" She sounded a little panicked now that her allies were down.

"It's useless," Klodoa hollered, and I swung him around to counter with Dark Cappriccio.

"**Double Wave!**"

"Have I ever mentioned how much I hate long-distanced attackers?" I grumbled, knowing that only by getting near would I be able to defeat her. I took off at full-speed, evading the large waves from either side, trying to crush where I was standing before.

"Wahrheit!"

I skidded to a halt, nearly tripping at the voice I'd nearly forgotten. I turned my head, mouth open. "Wha—? Genevieve? Mom?"

"Oho, you bad _le fils_, making your _Maman_ so heartbroken—" I let out a yelp of shock when I felt my legs being wrapped together by the Earth Mage's body. I tried to move, flailed and fell onto my backside.

"You stinkin' little brat," growled the fire-mage from before, cradling what seemed to be broken ribs as he limped out from behind the tree. "I'll make you pay! **Rainbow Fire!**"

"**Whirlpool!**"

"**Roche Concerto!**"

"**Dark Barrier**," I countered, covering my body in a translucent sheen of magic. I glared murderously at the green-haired man. "You sickening pervert! You didn't learn that you absolutely must _not_ touch me?!" I seized his face, leaving an imprint to fire off late. "**Explode**!"

It was not enough to kill him, I'd held back but he was undoubtedly knocked unconscious; his body went slack, I freed myself and looked up just in time to see Genevieve dissolving into sand, nothing but an illusion conjured by the earth.

"Kill them!" shrieked Klodoa, pulling me back from memory lane. I poured my magical energy into him: "**Dark Rondo!**" Darkness Magic with horror-stricken faces swirl around Klodoa, becoming more and more condensed. A purple magic circle formed and spitting from it was a wave of beams.

It took considerable strength, but I turned it onto the Fire Mage at the last second. It pummeled him into the ground. The woman was shaken but looked ready to fight once more.

I darted towards her as she made to stand and before she could react, I jumped and delivered a roundhouse kick. It went through her; never mind. I slapped her back, imprinting upon her with a single touch.

I activated it—just a mild blast, nothing that could kill but would leave a lasting scar—and she fell forward with a strangled yell. "Impossible," she murmured, breathless with pain. "The Element Four... d-defeated by a mere child?"

"He's not a child!" cried Klodoa and I spared a moment to feel gratitude towards the animated staff. "He may be a brat"—my expression soured, there went that surge of affection—"but he's still a member of the Oración Siete! You would do well to remember that when you're hunting—out—dark—guilds—that—belong—to us!"

Klodoa wrestled out of my hand and proceeded to smack her upside the head into oblivion, emphasizing each word with a hit to the head.

I assumed the pass-through-water-when-hit was something that needed conscious thought to activate. I seized Klodoa to make him stop once she'd passed out. "Enough," I intoned. "It's not gentlemanly to hit a girl."

"You're not a man," Klodoa pointed out gleefully.

I tossed him into the forest. "You can hop home!" I shouted angrily, turning my nose in air and stormed off.

**:: :: ::**

There was someone crying.

I blinked blearily, pushing myself into a sitting position. My joints ached and I squinted against the harsh glare of the sun. What the...? I had slept till morning? I yawned, covering my mouth, I had intended to get a short nap, not a sleep. Regardless of the achy joints, I felt more rested and energetic.

I looked around for Klodoa but failed to see him anywhere.

Ah, well. It wasn't like he was helpless.

The sobs I heard from before sounded much nearer and clearer. I looked around, eyes zeroing on the rustling bushes. I need not wait long: a few seconds later and a cat stumbled out. What drew my attention was how it stood on its hind legs with dark red fur and pink belly. It was sobbing into its paws, which surprised me.

"Whoa," I said. "A talking cat?"

It stopped crying instantly, removing its paws to reveal dark, watery eyes. I hated cats in general but this thing was technically not a cat: but an Exceed. It glared at me. "You came to laugh at me and Sting too?" it sniffled loudly.

"No... I was just curious. I don't often see talking cats, you see." I tried to smile but my dislike of anything catlike in general made it hard. I would've chose Klodoa in a heartbeat. "Why're you crying?" I asked.

It stumbled over to me, apparently under the impression I was inviting it over. I sighed. "Everyone laughed at what I said! They talked bad about Sting!"

"Who's this Sting? Did they laugh at his ridiculous name? Who're_ you_?"

"Sting's my friend and his name isn't stupid!" the cat cried passionately. "And I'm Lector," he added, almost as an afterthought.

"Why did they laugh at him then, if it wasn't for his name?" I asked, resisting the urge to bat the cat away.

"He killed a dragon but no one believed me!"

"Well, dragons are hard to come by," I said bracingly, "and how old is this Sting?"

Lector sniffled, rubbing his—I'm guessing here—eyes. "He's 'bout your age: twelve."

"I'm turning thirteen soon." It wasn't until I said it that I realized my birthday would take place this week. And I needed to get something for everyone.

All of us were born on different days of course, but for simplicity's sake, we decided to celebrate on the same day. Brain told us he chose the day we were brought from the Tower of Heaven as our birthday; quite fitting, leaving that place was like being born again.

"That's too young, but not impossible," I added hastily when the cat looked close to crying again. "Why don't you toddle back home to him?"

"'m lost," the cat complained.

"Fine. I'll bring you to town."

Since I took long strides, it was hard for Lector to keep up and I ended up carrying it to town. I needed the trip here anyway: I was wondering if there was a gift-shop I could visit. Choosing presents for my guild-mates were tough seeing as we were all eccentric.

I peered into shops as we passed. I came to a stop before the shoe shop. "Wha's the matter?" Lector asked curiously, considerably less upset than before.

"Oh, I wanted to buy something for my... friend. Do you mind if I shop for awhile?"

Lector shook his head and I entered the store. "Angel'd like the blue-feathered boots." And Brain's anger at losing Klodoa would probably be abated by a few books. Hoteye was easy to satisfy: I'd rob someplace for more money later, once I deposited Lector with his partner. That left Midnight, Cobra and Racer... even though I was tempted to give Cobra a box of dead snakes to irk him... Maybe I could get Racer a bike or sunglasses? ...Midnight seemed perfectly fine with everything I got him so far... (Even the teddy bear, which admittedly was to razz him, I got for him last year)

_Doesn't minding it is just the same as not really accepting it..._

"Lector, is that you?!"

"Sting!" squealed the Exceed in my arms, startling me.

"Hey, you, let him go!"

I stopped the fist coming my way with my palm, catching his punch. The blonde-haired boy looked shocked. But before he could gear up for another attack, Lector piped up, "But she was helping me look for you, Sting!"

"She?" I repeated, irritated.

Sting, blonde-haired, blue-eyed and so-young, blinked, taken aback, stared at me for a few long minutes. I made an impatient sound and he blushed not a moment too soon, apologizing profusely. "Sorry, sorry, I didn't know—I just jumped to conclusions—I swear, I'd make up for it—"

I handed Lector to him. "Well, goodbye."

"Ah, hey!"

"What?" I asked without turning.

"It'd be troublesome to go that way," said Sting, jogging to catch up with me. "The Council guards are there." I tensed. "They say a member of the Dark Guild Oración Siete is somewhere in this area and they barricaded the area to prevent him from getting away."

"How will that be troubling to me?" I asked mildly.

Sting looked around before speaking in hushed tones, "They say the Dark Mage in town is a kid around our age. The kid took down S-class Mages of Phantom Lord!"

I snorted. "That guild wasn't powerful enough in the beginning."

"Oh, well, I guess not. To think we had been planning on joining, right, Sting?" Lector spoke. "Jeez, why isn't there a good guild? Hey, miss, are you a mage?"

"...Yes, I am," I answered eventually, feeling a smirk crawling up my face. "I'm Mars, 's nice to meet you."

"I'm Sting Eucliffe, Dragon Slayer. And you know Lector. What sort of magic do you use?" He extended a hand towards me. I took his hand and shook it firmly.

"Um, eh, Pict Magic." I saw the expression on his face before he could mask it completely. I laughed, surprising both of them. "What? You thought it's a lame magic?"

He went red; Lector nodded and he cried, "Lector, that's rude!"

My laughter was cut short by a shout, "It's her! I recognize that pink hair!"

I whirled around, spotting Sting's wide-eyed stare. It was Totomaru, that member of Element Four and behind him were a troop of Rune Knights. I tapped Sting' shoulder. "Better run for it. Bye-bye."

"What—hey!"

I dashed past him. "Fly high, Lector!" I imprinted magic into every step I took, leaving footprints all the way out of the town.

I grinned—I was sure Sting and Lector would survive—and let my magic explode, swallowing the buildings and villagers in the explosion. I took off into the forest, sure that I wouldn't be safe if I stayed any longer.

Distantly, once, I caught sight of a large shape in the sky with wings but I was unsure if it was Sting and Lector or not.

Shrugging it off, I took off for home.

**:: :: ::**

The next day, Brain called me into his office to confront me about getting my name and face plastered all across the daily paper. "How did they know your real name?" he demanded.

"One of them can read minds, I think," I answered, a surly expression on my face.

"And where is my staff?"

_You mean your only friend?_ I rolled my eyes. "He'd come back... someday."

Brain sighed. "Give me a detailed recount."

I gave him a blow-to-blow account but my throat was sore and dry the moment I was done. Brain was frowning, not unhappily, more of a thoughtful expression. "What did you call your magic?" He sounded somewhat caustic.

"Gluttony since it, like, eats something; with the portal as its mouth." Brain's jaw dropped. "Is something wrong?" I asked, startled by the odd expression.

"Impossible... Tatarus themselves claim that it was a failure... to think..." Brain was muttering under his breath, starting to pace, agitated. "...so he has it? That's priceless... the expressions on their faces when they—" he broke off abruptly when he realized I was sitting in front of him.

"Well? I want to know what's wrong with my magic."

His expression went through a number of odd changes before settling into a calm mask. "You'll learn in due time. Why don't you head down to dinner, Mars? You must be eager to celebrate your 13th birthday, people only turn thirteen once, you know."

I burst out laughing.

"Not true," I sang as I darted out of the office.

I cannot put it into words or explain properly why, but when I saw the other kids already in the dining room, I felt a sudden swell of happiness.

"Hey, don't let the party start without me..."

**:: :: ::**

* * *

**[A/N]:** Next chapter—Allied Forces vs Oracion Siete! Also, there will be Natsu's pov. Well, about Mars magic, I was inspired to change it by the latest chapter in Fairy Tail's manga. If ya can guess, kudos to you! n.n

**Updated:** 28th of September, 2014.

**Status:** Unbeta'ed. Unsatisfied with this chapter, might edit it before the new chap is up.

**Question: **What is the outcome you expect from the clash?

Review!


	8. Chapter 8

**Fairy Tail © Hiro Mashima**

* * *

**Dragons Among Us**

**Chapter 7**

by GaleSynch

* * *

"What the fuck happened to your eye, Racer?"

I looked up from my fifth plate of sausages to see my blonde-haired guildmate. The difference was instantly noticed. "Did you try waking Midnight up again?"

Midnight had the tendency to erase anyone who tried to wake him up from existence. Brain and I were normally spared but only Racer would be able to outrun him, as we'd learn years ago. Cubellios _still_ cringed at the suggestion of waking Midnight.

Racer scowled, recalling what had happened that time. "No," he said and plopped down in his usual seat. "This is Brain's doing if you must know."

"He gouged your eye out?" Cobra asked, nearly spurting his cup of coffee.

"No," said a new voice entirely; we glanced up to see Brain striding in with a roll of his eyes at our hypothesis. "This is a limiter that I invented." He paused to let that sink into our still sleep-addled brains. Except for me, the others needed caffeine in their veins before they could function like humans. "It's supposed to make you get use to regulating magic properly since you have a limit placed on your Eternano reserves now. This is also trains you to absorb magic faster and to make use of your minimal magic reserves; if you're ever forced into such a situation. I made—"

Hoteye spoke up. "Time is money! So we must absolutely not waste it with unnecessary words! Basically, good sir, you're saying that having limiter is a good thing, right? My guildmates—let's wrap this up, right!"

I snorted, taking the cue Hoteye had given us and fled. I broke into giggles once I escaped the kitchen, recalling the look of annoyance on Brain's face and Klodoa's cackle.

"This is called thinking out of the box," Cobra hissed in laughter, overtaking me, still nursing his cup of coffee.

**:: :: ::**

Sometimes, in my more sentimental and contemplative moments (that usually occurred when I was cruising on Midnight's magic carpet), I would look back and marvel at how many years it had been since I came into this world.

This body was already thirteen years old. I was somewhere in my teenage years when I was reincarnated here, which meant that I would be... what, nearing my thirties?

The thought of being so old yet having the body of a boy barely out of his childhood years was odd. Goosebumps rose on my skin no matter how long it had been. I shuddered, even, glad that my mindset had never been overly mature: or it would've been torture.

"Something wrong?" Midnight asked casually. He always seemed to be picking up any unease I felt.

I shook my head, turning to look at the setting sun. My vision had been obscured by the limiter that was in the form of an eye-patch; I'd won the unlucky draw of being the second person to wear it. It was the third day and I needed a lot of getting-used to: I regretted laughing when Racer ran smack dab into walls.

"Nah, it's nothing."

Sometimes, it was not such a bad thing to forget.

"Are you excited?"

"Hm?"

"We're moving out tomorrow to the Warth Woodlands," Midnight reminded me, "We'e close to our goal now."

"Nirvana," I sighed: a sound that disappeared and twisted into the sunset. "Oh, you can't say I'm not looking forward to it. Anyway, have you done something about your weaknesses yet?"

Midnight huffed softly: he hadn't been pleased when I pointed out the flaws in his magic but ultimately, it was for his own good. "I did try to do something about it."

"What're the results?"

"You won't see."

"Why not?"

"Because I won't ever lose." He flashed me a small smile.

**:: :: ::**

(Natsu Dragneel's family consisted of Igneel, his dragon dad, and his guildmates. Mother? That was Erza. Father? He had Igneel. Grandfather? The Guild Master, of course! And Natsu had uncles in spades along with older and younger siblings.

Happy had always been his little brother, though, if he was asked.

Natsu never really gave a thought about family related by blood. He knew those sort of family existed of course: like Laxus and Gramps. But it never occurred to Natsu until today that he might have blood-relatives out there. Fairy Tail had been his family for so long he hadn't imagined any other family than them.

"Your brother left a short while ago with another boy..."

"Brother? I've no brother, I came wit' Happy."

"Are you certain you don't know the other child? This clearly states that you're brothers."

Natsu had taken off running, Happy hot on his heels, after hearing that. He ignored how dizzy he felt, forgot about how he'd gotten there, and only concentrated on moving forwards as quickly as he can.

"He has pink hair, I saw it, Natsu!" Happy added, "And the other boy has black and white hair!"

Natsu took it seriously before he could smell it: a scent that was so similar to his that it could be. But, no, it was another person's scent. Igneel told Natsu, a long time ago but he remembered it clearly, that family members—blood-relatives—had the same scent.

No one could replicate it. Even if you did not stay with your family in years now, you would still smell the same, it was all in the blood. Igneel had taught Natsu how to identify his real family and he could seek them out if he wanted to.

Igneel was more than enough.

Fairy Tail sufficed.

So, it was completely unexpected, to feel such a thrill of exhilaration at the mention of a younger, full-blooded brother.

That opened up so much more possibilities. _Were their parents still alive?_

_How were you doing?_

_What's your name?_

_Can we play together?_

_Hey, do you wanna come to Fairy Tail with me?_

"Wait!" Natsu shouted at the top of his lungs. "Happy, after... the—_eeze_—train—uft... gah..." Natsu collapsed, dizzy; his head was swimming and he dimly registered being carried in air. He felt sick: gah, transportation!

The next time Natsu woke, he was back in the clinic. The doctor told him that he'd sent a letter to Natsu's guild, and that someone will be here to pick Natsu up.

Much to the pink-haired boy's chagrin, the one who was closest to the town he was currently located in was Laxus. "You are an embarrassment," the blonde-haired teenager said huffily as they left the town, heading back to Magnolia on foot for some reason: Laxus didn't seem keen on getting on transportation either. "Why can't you be more careful? Recklessly charging in—why're you so quiet?" A pause. "...Natsu?"

He had a brother.

Along with Igneel, Natsu was determined find this brother of his.

He had to thank the boy for saving his life after all.)

**:: :: ::**

(Lisanna was the only person Natsu confided in and they could spend hours together discussing how he look like, where to find him and what sort of person he was. The rest of the guild was not so serious about it—all under the opinion that he had suffered from shock or had created an imaginary brother. Surprisingly, only Laxus seemed to believe he had a brother.

Though the reason he did so was pissing Natsu off: "Never seen that idiot so serious before, so Natsu's brother is not imaginary."

It only made Natsu so much lonelier when Lisanna was gone.

He was sure his brother and Lisanna would like one another when they met.

He did not cry, unlike Mira and Elfman who were inconsolable; he wondered, briefly, if he would be crying as hard as they did if it was his brother being lowered into the cold, deep and dark earth.

"I'd find them, Lisanna," he told the tombstone, knowing that regardless or not she heard him, he would go through with what he said. "I'd find Igneel and my brother and I'd introduce you guys; you'd love them.")

**:: :: ::**

(From what Natsu could gather about his brother from the mayor of the village they first encountered one another, his brother was a mage.

He was at least four or five years younger than Natsu. He had pink hair and eyes. He could be a _she_ since the mayor was unsure. He was in a guild. He had a friend who was Natsu's age with black-white hair. He wore unicorn-patterned sneakers and sweatshirt so he must've liked unicorns.

"I want to fight him, someday," Natsu told Happy, grinning as he pinned the list of facts about his brother on the wall in his small cottage he shared with Happy. "I bet he's strong!")

**:: :: ::**

("Tons of things happened, Lisanna!" Natsu chirped to the grave of his white-haired friend. It was alarming to think how two years had passed so quickly; how Mira had changed so much. "...Remember Lucy? Yeah, she totally kicked Bixlow's ass in the Fighting Festival! When Gray couldn't do it—ha!—you should've seen Icy-Boy's face when he learned that."

Natsu laughed in the silence, imagining his friend laughing along with him. And somehow, it became easier to soldier through the rest of his sentence and the events: Fantasia, Laxus' excommunication from the guild, how the blonde-haired Dragon Slayer promised to aid Natsu in finding his brother.

"Now I know why Laxus believed me years ago... Apparently, he could smell my brother too!" Natsu smiled ruefully. "This happened weeks ago, but I had been too busy since there's the Fantasia Parade and we need to clean up the whole town due to the damage of the Festival. Anyway, I've got to go out of town tomorrow. Me, Lucy, Erza, Gray and Happy are going to destroy the Oración Siete Guild! An alliance had been formed between us and Lamia Scale, Blue Pegasus and Cait Shelter."

Natsu pumped his fists, grinning. "Thinking about it gets me all fired up!")

**:: :: ::**

I hated falling sick. That was when my body became weak and along with it, my mind weakened. Unconsciously, I would dream of past memories.

Mel, Genevieve and Shane were among the few I hated to dream about.

Genevieve was dead: I did not need to check to know. I knew this with a bone-deep certainty that I wanted to be violently sick. I ran away when Brain said he wanted to speak to me about my mother; after seeing my reaction, he never brought her up again.

I was sure my 'mother' did not have a grave. Mel had no grave—Brain had tossed her burnt corpse into the sea to prevent her corpse from stinking the ship up. Shane's grave was the expanse of the ocean. I assumed the reason why I had never handled sea-transport was entirely due to Shane: his presence was overbearing at sea. Whenever I was on a ship, I always felt the crawling sense of anxiety and I'd glance back, wondering if Shane hated me and wanted me to die as much as I wanted him dead.

He never struck me as a particularly vengeful person; whoever said selfish and vengeance went hand-in hand?

I sneezed. "Ah, ow—Angel, be gentler!" For that crazy girl had roughly slapped an icy-wet cloth onto my burning forehead.

"Hey, you think I want to be stuck babysitting you?" she snapped. "Honestly. Well, I guess I can't expect much from lowly beings such as you lot... contracting the flu at such a crucial time. Hmph!"

I sniffled, pinching my runny nose. "I don't want to hear that from the one who passed this ailment to me!" I cried but regretted it instantly the moment my sore throat screeched in pain. "Water," I croaked. But my caretakers ignored me.

"Blame Cobra!" retorted Angel, whirling to glare at the older boy. "It's his filthy pet!"

"Lay off Cubellios, you bitch!"

"What did you _say_?" Angel screeched, stomping her foot; her Keys clinking together in musical harmony. She was a few seconds from summoning one of her Celestial Spirits.

I wished they would keep quiet; my head was pounding, my joints were aching and I was generally weakened with a high-fever. A loud slam announced the arrival of Brain and the others. Midnight was awake, I noticed, floating along after Brain on his magic carpet; he gazed at me with mild pity. No one liked being sick.

I sniffled. "Why can't I stay here with Klodoa?" I kvetched.

Brain made an impatient sound. "Those Light Guilds," he said the last two words venomously but since we Dark Guilds held Light Guilds in high contempt, this was not unusual, "put together an Alliance that we'd end once and for all. It's unsafe to leave you alone here. Midnight'd carry you."

"Can I sleep?" I asked hopefully, slightly touched that Brain thought of my well-being—well, the danger of being left alone when Light Mages were running wild.

"I doubt anyone they dispatch would be much of a challenge," Racer commented, shrugging. "So, feel free to, baby."

I shot him a halfhearted glare. "Stop calling me that." Racer had a variety of nicknames for me, as this was the "privilege" of being the youngest.

"Let's move out," Brain cut in loudly to prevent anymore arguments.

It was cold despite the layers of jacket I was wearing. Much to my annoyance, Brain did not let me wear any unicorn-related shirt except for the converse shoes. I practically crawled onto Midnight's lap for warmth. "Baby," Racer jeered.

"Enough!"

And with the familiar sounds that was my guildmates' voices, I fell asleep to the lull and thrum of Midnight's heartbeat.

**:: :: ::**

"Wendy?" Natsu rubbed his chin. That name sounded familiar. He turned to Gray. "Hey, can you remember her for me?"

"What the hell?" barked Gray.

"Clear this up, boys!" barked the redheaded troll—quoting Erza—as he danced to the middle of the room. Natsu and Gray turned to face him, gathering along with the others. "Well, now that every guild is assembled, I think we should get this mission briefing underway. Our first order of business is to determine the location of the Oración Siete."

The rest waited, staring.

"...But firstly, I need to inhale the _parfum_ of the toilet."

"What the hell?!"

Natsu grumbled; he was ready to get out there and kick ass and this old dude was lolly-lagging. It was an agonizing five minutes later when Ichiya-something returned, skipping back onto the mini-stage.

"Much better. Now please, pay close attention. To the north of our current location lies the Warth Woodlands. There locates an ancient magic that has been sealed for a long time. It's name is Nirvana." He struck an entirely new pose.

"Those poses are getting really old," Gray commented.

"Nirvana?" Natsu echoed, baffled. Judging from the expressions on the others' faces, they didn't either.

Ren, the dark-skinned black-haired and -eyed mage, spoke up, "We don't know about this magic other than its name and that it is destructive in nature. And since the Oración Siete traveled to the Warth Woodlands, we assume that Nirvana is their goal. They're desperate to get to this magic. To prevent that from happening, we must destroy the Oración Siete!"

"I'm getting tired of the posing," Lucy muttered.

"Anyway, we may have the advantage in numbers but we cannot underestimate them," Ren said.

"They're incredibly strong," Hibiki added.

"It may well be over our heads," Eve agreed.

There was a _click!_ and Natsu craned his neck to see what was happening. Hibiki was typing away, on a diaphanous keyboard. "Archive Magic? I don't believe I've seen it in use before." Natsu's eyes cut to Lyon Bastia who had spoken but otherwise remained silent, having never seen this magic either.

"And it does what exactly?" Sherry sounded a tad condescending but Hibiki didn't seem offended.

"It's useful for information gathering. Such as these photographs of our enemies, don't ask how we got them. Right, first up is the snake wizard, Cobra."

Curled around the dark-skinned mage was a large, purple snake; the mage had maroon hair spiked in every direction.

"Beady eyes and a smug smirk, he looks like trouble to me," Natsu commented loudly.

"Talk about the pot calling the kettle black!"

"Next up is, judging from his codename, we can assume he uses speed-magic: Racer."

Gray narrowed his eyes. "I don't like the look of this guy."

"Hmph. Me neither," Lyon scowled darkly at the picture of the blonde-haired, aquiline nosed-mage; his sunglasses hid the upper half of his face.

Hibiki pressed another button and this time, a picture of a long-haired man with a moderately large build appeared. "And there's this man who is willing to wipe out an entire military unit if the price is right: Hoteye of the heavenly eyes."

"That guy kills for money?" Sherry cried.

"Turns my stomach," Jura grumbled in agreement.

"And this lady is gorgeous but just as vicious," Hibiki said, sighing softly as he gazed at the white-haired, blue-eyed mage: she smirked smugly at the camera, decked in an outfit that revealed a great deal of her bosom, "This is Angel who is said to be able to look into your heart."

"She's the beautiful but deadly type, huh? Is this girl for real?" Lucy would not be surprised if Hibiki created her out of his daydreams.

"The next member is such a mystery that all we know is a name: Midnight. We only know that he is always around his youngest guildmate."

"That's an odd name," Erza remarked, eyes hard, trained on the mage. His bangs were long and one was decorated with beads; his hair was dual-colored, the upper-portion black and the lower-portion white in color. He looked rather feminine, not due to his appearance, but due to his attire. What sort of guy wears lipstick and eyeliner? Yeesh. "Does it correlate to his power?"

Dimly, Natsu wondered what sort of power related to midnight. Summon darkness? Make people sleep?

"Next we have their youngest member, Mars. For simplicity's sake, let's refer to this child as 'she'. If this child is indeed female, she would grow up to be—"

"I think it's a boy," muttered Lucy, sure that Hibiki's wish to see more pretty ladies twisted his reality.

"Um, like the war god?" Wendy squeaked, gazing at the newest picture. This Mars looked vaguely familiar with tan skin and pink hair braided to one side, framing that androgynous face. There was little doubt this was just a child with playful pink eyes and smirk. She—if this Dark Mage was a girl at all—seemed to be about Wendy's age.

"Not as much as a war god as she is the conqueror," Hibiki corrected, "all the Dark Guilds we managed to worm information out of claims that she's the one who forcefully recruited them after defeating the Guild Masters."

Lucy paled slightly. "Just how strong is she?"

"See, Wendy?" barked the white-cat, Charles. "If they have a girl your age who can fight so well, you can too!"

Wendy let out a small noise of distress. "_Eh?_ But isn't the reason she's in that guild at such a young age is because she's crazy strong in the first place?!"

"Juvia says that she defeated the Element Four a few years back," Gray said aloud for the others' benefit more than his fellow guild-mates as they had been tipped-off by Juvia earlier. "But, no matter how you look at it, she seems familiar."

"Where have I seen her before?" Natsu wondered. He seemed to be meeting a lot of familiar faces today. "Ne, Happy—" He paused, staring down at his best friend. "Happy?"

For his cat had gone quite pale, lacking his usual goofy, trademark happy grin: he was pale and shaking.

"Happy?" Natsu asked, tone concerned. "What's wrong?"

His question seemed to shake the cat out of it. Still trembling slightly, Happy flashed Natsu a weak grin. "I-It's nothing, aye!"

**:: :: ::**

For the umpteenth time, I sneezed. My head throbbed painfully. How long had I been asleep? Not long enough, I'm telling you. I turned to see who had woken me and I noticed that it was Brain.

"What?" I asked grumpily, distinctly noticing that Angel was missing.

"Mars, there's a warship coming our way. I want you and Racer to destroy it." Brain sneered "Those maggots aren't giving up without a fight."

Racer picked me up and usually, I would've aimed a kick at this babyish treatment but I settled for sneezing in his face. Racer gritted his teeth in disgust, ignoring my victorious smirk: I was going to pay later. But I didn't care. He tucked me under his arm and tore off.

I was dizzied by the high-speed movement and staggered a few steps before the world righted itself. "Can you even use magic as you are now?" Racer asked. "I'll head to the control room and find the self-destruct button. Do your job quickly: speed's good. Catch you later."

And he dashed off.

I strolled on the deck, lazily imprinting my magic with every step I took. I made my way below deck, marveling at the smooth quality of the ship. A shame really, to destroy it. I wanted to keep it. Maybe we could also make one?

I sniffled, feeling the coolness of the metal walls seeping into my heated skin. Despite the layers of clothing I wore (which consisted of a zip-up red jacket atop a black-tee that was beneath a purple hoodie), I still felt cold. I did not look forward to fighting the Ice Mages they were presenting us with.

"Mars!"

I tapped the wall, smearing the wall with my magic before turning to face Racer. "What?"

"We're done here. There's no self-destruct button but I messed up its control room, poured oil and set a bomber. We can go before this thing blows up."

Sighing, I allowed myself to be carried like a ragdoll. Racer landed, turning the impact into a somersault and hit the ground running. I was jarred and my heart could've skipped a few dozen beats or so but I didn't show it. I blinked and the landscape had changed.

"Racer," I coughed out, "have you figured out how to overcome your weakness?"

Racer made an impatient noise. "Sheesh. Why do you keep pestering us about overcoming our current weakness?"

"'Coz it might be exploited!"

He snorted impatiently, setting me down on my feet. "You give people too much credit," he commented and left. I credited myself for not stumbling. I glanced to my side and noticed that Midnight was asleep. I was tempted to shake him awake to end this in one stroke but my paranoia would not be shared by the rest of my guildmates and explaining myself would be too hard.

Hunching my shoulders, I stalked after my guildmates, very much reluctant to fight even though there was no real need to. I looked up when Angel sauntered over to us. "Two down," she chirped happily, "Ten more of those maggots to go."

"Did you kill them?" I asked, shoving my hands into the hoodie's front pockets.

"No... I thought it would be funny if they lived to see the light crumble: to feel the sheer hopelessness of the situation." Angel giggled.

And here I thought she was finally being merciful. I rolled my eyes at myself.

"Well, let's go greet our visitors."

Burying the lower-half of my face in the high-collar, I followed my guildmates.

**:: :: ::**

* * *

**Updated:** 12th of October, 2014.

**Status:** Unbeta'ed.

**Question:** How do you expect this confrontation between the Allied Forces and Oracion Siete will end? Should Mars be arrested by the Council? He's underage... ;.;

BTW, **Deinokos** made a website for this fic. Go check it out! Just type in Deinokos, Dragons Among Us and website.

**Review!**


End file.
